Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Odisha takes an innovative step towards making their campus inclusive and accessible to its students! Adiroopa Mukherjee writes about their steam-based mega kitchen.
Feeding 27,000 indigenous students is no small task, and KISS manoeuvres its way around the challenge of providing nutritious meals with high micro-nutrient and protein value to all its students, thrice daily. Providing good nutrition is essential towards its goal of ending hunger and contributing to food security and sustainable agriculture in Odisha. To this end, more than 100,000 meals are prepared daily for our students in an impressive, award-winning steam-based Mega kitchen, which has been featured in a National Geographic documentary on India’s Mega Kitchens. Students eat protein, fiber and nutrient dense ‘dalma’ several times a week. This stew of sorts consists of lentils and at least six to seven vegetables. In addition, they eat meat twice a week and are also provided with fruits, Mudi (puffed rice), cornflakes, milk, and eggs among other things. The quantity of cornflakes and milk consumed in one meal alone is enough to feed a family of four for nearly twenty years, and efforts like these have helped KISS drastically reduce malnutrition amongst its incoming indigenous students. KISS’ mega kitchen prepares in excess of 10,000 meals per day with the help of over 250 volunteers. Students eat their meals, in batches of approximately 10,000 at a time, in the adjoining 24,000 sq. ft. dining hall.