Mega Kitchens on Nat Geo India: Akshaya Patra at Hubli

As the specially designed vans carrying food for the school children leave the kitchen compound in Hubli, the day doesn’t quite get over and it’s just the beginning of another one. I am talking about the Mega kitchens run by the largest NGO in the world, Akshaya Patra, which makes and distributes food to over 1.2 million students every single day across ten Indian states. Just this one kitchen in Hubli, Karnataka itself makes food for 175,000 students in villages all around the city.

However, behind these staggering numbers, there is a very human story behind this institution. In every way the NGO lives up to it’s name which literally means ‘an inexhaustible vessel of food’.

This is their story!

akshaya patra hubli karnataka massive kitchens india nat geo
Akshaya Patra kitchen in Hubli

What is Akshaya Patra?

Before we even understand the mammoth scale of operations at Akshaya Patra, let me very briefly talk about why Akshaya Patra even exists. Even today, about half of India’s children go hungry every day and a large percentage of these children are also early drop-outs from school. In the late 1990s the Government of India came up with a scheme to try and solve both the problems together and it was christened Mid Day Meals. Under this scheme, free food was provided to all the children at government primary schools during their lunch breaks. The food provided nutrition to the children and also became an incentive for them to come to school more regularly, as this was often the most wholesome meal that they got in the day.

This is when Akshaya Patra was born and they partnered with the Government of India to help them realise this ambitious project.

My fascination with factories!

I remember the time I saw the functioning of a large factory for the first time from close quarters. It was my first week at TVS Motors and as an engineer fresh out of college, I was both awed and impressed. Once I went through the rigours of making of a motorbike, I valued this machine even more.

However, I always connected factories with machines so it came as quite a pleasant surprise to learn about how Akshaya Patra worked to provide food. Interestingly even as their kitchens work with the professionalism and scale of a factory, the food is still made by human hands, with hygiene and taste as two key priorities.

It was a factory but still felt like your mother’s own kitchen |

So how does this mega kitchen achieve this? To me there are two key factors which make it happen - Passion and Innovation. The passion comes from the cause, and innovation does it’s magic in the kitchen.

akshaya patra hubli karnataka massive kitchens india nat geo
The food getting sorted and prepped

As I am a designer, the story of innovations fascinated me the most. From using gravity to help in movement of massive amounts of food (12,000 to 15,000 kg of rice, 25,000 liters of Sambhar everyday) between different levels and to the use of high pressure steam to cook food quickly, innovations are simple and practical. Innovations also come from simple changes like use of Briquettes instead of conventional fuel which reduce the expense of fuel by 60%.

The mantra is to ‘go big in service, low in cost’ |

Hubli is located in the South Indian state of Karnataka and the staple food here is Sambhar-rice. However, to make sure that the students love their food, a different Sambhar is cooked on each day of the week. In fact there are eighteen varieties of Sambhar which can be made at this kitchen. To achieve perfection and consistency in taste, Akshaya Patra also has an elite group of food tasters who try out new recipes but also check on the food taste for each batch everyday.

akshaya patra hubli karnataka massive kitchens india nat geo
The huge cooking vessels

akshaya patra hubli karnataka massive kitchens india nat geo
Food ready to be sent to schools

If you enjoyed this story, you are bound to love ‘Mega Kitchens’ which is aired on Nat Geo from 10-11pm every Monday to Thursday. And if you want to catch the show on Akshaya Patra, look out for the repeat telecast next Thursday.

Leave me a comment and let me know if you know about some more such kitchens - you never know they might be coming up soon on the show!

In the meanwhile, check out the promo of the campaign here:




Note: This post is written in collaboration with Nat Geo India for their latest program ‘Mega Kitchens.’

Comments

  1. This is such a wonderful thing! My brother-in-law owns a company in Bengaluru's Electronics City, and as his business has grown over the years he has started providing lunch to one school and more recently breakfast to another in an effort to

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  2. Hari OM

    Thanks for writing on this Sid - I get simple free to air tv here - and barely watch even those channels; pay tv is certainly not on my 'aerial'! However, this project, is worth shouting about... and of course the have a most wonderful website if people with to learn more... (of course I appreciate your collaboration, but hope you don't mind me putting the link).



    Interesting changes here... 'upmarketing'??? YAM xx

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  3. Wonderful
    website. kanyakumari Hotels
    Plenty of useful information here. thanks on your sweat!

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  4. If I am correct ISKCON also run mid day meal scheme known as Annamrita.

    And I love these quotes said by you:

    It was a factory but still felt like your mother’s own kitchen.
    The mantra is to ‘go big in service, low in cost’.



    Thanks for sharing. Keep traveling, keep writing.

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  5. Vow!!! I want to go for a day!!

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  6. Pick a date around the 'Shahi snan' days...all of them would be good :)

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  7. I am glad you found it useful Archit :)

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  8. You could be right Tushar, such mid-day meal kitchens are at many locations. Each one has an inspirational story to tell :)

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  9. Of course I do not mind! I love your comments so much that I won't object to any of this at all :)

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  10. That's a tough one! Let me know when you coming and we might be able to catch up for chai or something :)

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  11. Hii!! Came across your blog while searching for details about Nashik Kumbh and the blog was really helpful :)...I am planning a trip around shahi snan days and would be great if we could catch up..:)

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  12. Very good detailed post. And excellent pics well. Any reason why you haven't watermarked them? Naga babas are always mystery to me. :) And no, I won't go to such place alone. :) Will miss it this year.

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  13. Love the details of this organisation... ʕ⁠´⁠•⁠ᴥ⁠•⁠`⁠ʔ May God Bless You 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

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