A look at three virtual culinary communities launched amidst the pandemic

How three culinary communities launched amidst the pandemic have brought people together over their shared love for food

Simple Recipes for Complicated Times

Founded by Peter Griffin

Where: Facebook

When: March 2020

As early restrictions of the pandemic were being put in place in 2020, writer and journalist Peter Griffin says many people like him “who had never had to cook, were suddenly having to fend for themselves”. When he found himself asking friends on social media for advice on some simple recipes, Peter was met with a torrent of friendly advice and tips, not just from people he knew.

Peter began thinking about how several others could do with such help. He went on to start the Facebook group that grew to a few thousand followers in a week. “Requests, tips, recipes, hacks… they kept flowing in and were met with prompt and practical advice. I asked a couple of friends, Nikita Barton and Ayesha Thomas, to help moderate the group, and it has coasted — mostly — smoothly since then,” says Peter. He talks about how even the most experienced cooks were looking at ingredient shortages, and the stresses of cooking for a whole house with no breaks or reliefs. 

He explains how people told stories about food, their memories, struggles, and triumphs. “For me, and many others too, the learning was not just about how to cook X or hack Y set of ingredients; it was about realising how food intersected every aspect of our lives. There were insights into gender equations, caste restrictions, community, religion, history, geography, and so much more,” says Peter, of the community that still sees people joining in. “Everyone eats, but what one eats, what one can or cannot eat, how the same things are prepared in different cultures, etc. are all fascinating. Whether you look at food in a very functional way or are deeply invested in some aspect of it, there is so much to learn,” he says.