Sudha Murty opens up about her food choices at home, during travels: ‘I am a pure vegetarian. Not even egg, garlic’

The duo was seen enjoying a lavish spread of Mysuru-cuisine including peanut Koshambir, tender cashew nut and tondli sabzi, raita and South Indian pulao, sweet poli with coconut and jaggery, sabudana and sevai kheer, and akki flour or rice flour roti.

Re-affirming that she loves to eat, Sudha admitted that she is “not a good cook”. However, she can do basic cooking. “I am not a good cook. It’s not that I don’t like cooking but I don’t know how to cook,” said Sudha, who is married to entrepreneur and founder of Infosys NR Narayana Murthy.

She further expressed, “Since childhood, I have always been out with work so I have not dedicated enough time to cooking. But I don’t fast. If there is no one at home, I won’t go to a hotel to eat. I make good parotta, dal, and sabzi. I know basic cooking. Rice, dal, sambar, parotta, sabzi. But I won’t know how to make puranpoli or such items. Home has simple cooking.”

Given that she happens to be a globetrotter owing to her work, how does she manage abroad? “Whenever I travel, I like to be adventurous when it comes to work but not when it comes to food. I am scared. I am a pure vegetarian. (I don’t eat) Not even egg, garlic,” revealed Sudha.

“I am scared that both vegetarians and non-vegetarians use the same spoon. It is in my head. Whenever I go out, I look for vegetarian restaurants or I always carry one bag full of eating materials. I make 25-30 chapattis. I fry sooji or rava and make it ready to eat. I only have to add warm water to the mix. I take poha. I take a cooking bag with a small cooker. I used to make fun of my grandmother when she took a bag like that. Now, I do the same. I carry my own food,” mentioned Sudha.

Noting that her husband stays away from sweets and doesn’t like them, Sudha burst out into giggles admitting that she loves all kinds of sweets. “Narayana Murthy does not eat sweets. I love sweets. He is not a foodie at all. He likes Mysore-style baingan or eggplant. He likes bisibelle bhaat which I also prepare,” said Sudha.

Further mentioning that “it is very difficult to pick one type of food in India”, Sudha said, “I like lots of foods like dhokla, basundhi from Kohlapur, Shrikhand from Pune, Bakarwadi from Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale, Sandesh from Kolkata, Jalebi from Rajasthan, pineapples from Tripura, dum aloo from Kashmir. The list is endless.”

Turning tables, the duo also spoke about her foray into writing for children. “Children don’t grow up with grandparents anymore. If you want to give good values, a book or a story can do that. Blaming is easy, finding a solution is important. Simple stories about good value systems written in simple English, which are relevant and catch their attention are important. There is a vacuum for English writers. Once I wrote the first time and realised that children liked it, I continued,” said Sudha.

Talking about her book centred around mangoes titled How The Mango Got Its Magic, Sudha mentioned how mangoes are an integral part of India’s ecosystem. “Mango is something which the whole of India enjoys. Mango is something that appears in our Vedas. The mango tree is so auspicious that even in weddings, mango leaves are placed. I call mangoes nectar on the Earth. Every state has its own mango. For me, nothing like Hapus. Entire Konkan belt till Goa, nothing matches Hapus,” said Sudha, adding that she got the idea of writing the book for children from the story of tomatoes and how they transformed from an ornamental fruit to an everyday vegetable.

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