NNWN/24-12-2019

Bengaluru based charitable foundation, Akshaya Patra Foundation has started a community kitchen in the Capital for government school. The community kitchen is meant to motivate more students to attend schools. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia who was present on the occasion stated that the kitchen has been started with twin purpose, in collaboration with the Akshaya Patra Foundation. Encourage more students to attend schools and provide best quality meals to students are the main purpose behind starting the community kitchen. The kitchen is located at Mohan Cooperatrive Industrial area which will serve food in Delhi government run school. For Akashaya Patra Foundation it is the 51st kitchen in the country.

According to the official statement, it is five minutes walking distance from the city government school in the area and is also Akshaya Patra's 51st kitchen in the country.  Interestingly the menu has mouthwatering 'puri with chhole' and 'suji halwa with chana' on the list.  Maintaining that the quality of food would be of good standard, Sisodia reportedly stated that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had flown to Bengaluru to inspect the quality of food services provided by the foundation and, after he felt satisfied with the food standards, invited its officials to the national capital to provide meals for students of Delhi government schools.

'The quality of food is important, but the intent of cooking and feeding is also important. When we cook food (like our mothers do at home) with love and affection, it gets transferred to the food, and the food will taste delicious,' he said. Sisodia also stated that there is a need to meet minimum food quality standards and its importance.In 2000, the NGO had started the concept of community kitchen and set up kitchens in Bengaluru to ensure that children in India get access to nutritious, good quality meals in their schools.

Akshaya Patra foundation background:

Akshaya Patra serves in 16,856 Government and Government aided schools with a reach of over 1.8 million children across 12 states & 2 Union territories of India. It now operates out of 49 centralised (automated) kitchens and two decentralised (traditional) kitchens