A new English devotee, Bhakta Robin, expressed his appreciation of Srila Prabhupada's knowledge of cooking.
Prabhupada replied that right from his childhood, if somebody was preparing food, he would want to see how it was done.
Bhakta Robin observed that in India, it seems that most people can cook something, but in the West people are now practically helpless. "They buy everything it seems in packets, and you would not know how to prepare any food as much as just to cut the packet and pour it out, and even then they don't even know how to put water into the pan."
Prabhupada agreed with him. "They do not know how to eat on the whole. India knows how to eat. I have traveled all over the world, and this is my experience. Nobody knows how to eat. Only India. In every province they have got different dishes. Because the woman, they are trained up how to cook very nice. Woman is meant for that purpose, how to make nice palatable dishes. In Bengal there is a ceremony after marriage, bahu-bhata. The newly-married girl, she shall cook, and all the relatives, friends, are invited and they appreciate, 'Yes, nice cook.' Then she is accepted as member of the whole family."
"And if not, Prabhupada?" Robin asked. "If her cooking is not..."
"Therefore she is trained up."
"And if she's not trained up?"
"She must be trained up," Prabhupada replied, his tone indicating that there was no possibility of it being otherwise. "Just like Radharani, She was trained up in sixty-four arts. Do you think to captivate Krsna is easy thing? How much qualified She must have been so that Krsna was attracted."
- From "A Transcendental Diary Vol 4" by HG Hari Sauri Prabhu
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