This is Akshaya Patra, the foundation that runs the world's largest free school meals program. This kitchen alone prepares enough biryani for 75,000 people. children per day. Across India, the foundation's 65 kitchens feed two million children every day in over 19,000 kitchens. schools. The kitchens have served over 3 billion meals since the foundation was established in 2000, something that vice-president Sri Chanchalapathi Dasa is very proud of.
It's like feeding the whole of India three times
– says Sri Chanchalapathi Das, vice president of Akshaya Patra Foundation.
We visited this gigantic kitchen to see how its workers make vegetable biryani and moong dal payasam in such large quantities.
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Children's feeding program from the kitchen
This gigantic kitchen is located in Bangalore, the capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka, and employs 230 people working on three floors. We start on the top floor where all the food is cleaned, cut and prepared. Each day, workers prepare raw ingredients for the next day and then store the food in a cold storage facility that can hold up to five tons of food.
— On average, we use about 25 ingredients in this kitchen a day, and one of the very important aspects at Akshaya Patra is preparing the menu, explains Shridhar Venkat, CEO of the Akshaya Patra Foundation.
Today's menu includes vegetable biryani – an Indian rice dish prepared by the kitchen from a mixture of vegetables and an original blend of spices. Workers start by passing the prepared vegetables through cutting machines.
“We prepare large amounts of food and we have to do it very quickly and economically, so we use a lot of technology intensively,” explains Chanchalapathi.
Across India, the foundation's 65 kitchens feed 2 million children every day in over 19,000 kitchens. schools
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This biryani will consist of tomatoes, green peppers, cabbage, carrots, potatoes and squash.
“Each meal contains at least 50 g of vegetables for a primary school child and 75 g of vegetables for a secondary school child,” says Shridhar.
In addition to vegetables, workers portion and prepare rice for this dish. The rice is then rinsed thoroughly with water before cooking. On a typical day, a kitchen might use approximately seven tons of grains and five tons of dairy products. The washed rice and pre-cut vegetables then go into a chute that connects to the second floor.
This simple use of gravity is one of the key elements of this kitchen because it means less manual work can be done and everything is kept clean. The ingredients go into 51 stainless steel cauldrons, and the chefs use huge stirrers. Workers then close the lids and use a two-ton cauldron to produce steam to cook the food.
— Making biryani usually takes an hour, counting the time from preparation to the end of cooking, and the food from this cauldron can feed about 1,000 children – explains the CEO of the foundation.
To ensure food safety and purity, the vegetable biryani is temperature checked and recorded. Next to each kettle is a small stainless steel vessel that holds a sample of each batch, which is tested 24 hours later for microbial growth. Once a week, children receive lunch with sweet treats.
— This is where moong dal payasam is made. Moong dal payasam is a dessert and children love desserts. Each of these kettles can hold about 1,200 liters of dal, or lentils, says Shridhar.
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Free school meals are transported by 'hope' buses
680 kg of lentils fall into each of the six cauldrons used to cook the dish. Milk and raisins are added to give it better structure and a creamy consistency. Finally, jaggery syrup, which is an unrefined natural sweetener made from sugarcane, is added to the kettles.
The food falls and is then portioned and packed into individual containers.
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It usually takes about 1.5 hours to 1 hour 45 minutes to make moong dal payasam
Once the vegetable biryani and moong dal payasam finish cooking, workers transfer the food from the kettles to these carts, which are then taken to another large chute that connects to the ground floor. The food falls and is then portioned and packed into individual containers.
— These containers are intended for contact with food. Each of them can accommodate food for 85-100 children, and one of the foundations of Akshaya Patra is hygiene and safety. As you can see, every container and vessel in which food will be stored is washed or steam cleaned, Shridhar shows.
The containers then go onto a conveyor belt and are loaded into custom-built buses called “Hope Buses.”
— These are isothermal vehicles that keep food at a warm temperature. A large amount of food goes into each vehicle. Over time, Akshaya Patra has developed logistical capabilities. This kitchen has 32 vehicles. We serve approximately 650 schools and feed approximately 75,000 children every day. children, although our goal is approximately 110,000. – the head of the foundation will explain.
We're talking about just one kitchen. If we take into account 64 other kitchens across India, the foundation feeds over two million children every day.
— Our beginnings were very humble. In 2000, we provided meals to 1,500 children on the outskirts of Bangalore. Over time, we received more and more requests from school principalswho wrote to us: “We see your food truck pass in front of our school. Can you stop and feed our children?“When we saw these requests, we started scaling up our program. Thanks to this, we currently feed about 200,000 children in Bangalore,” says Chanchalapathi.
The foundation feeds over 2 million children every day
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How does the Akshaya Patra Foundation raise funds to pay for free meals?
— We receive a certain amount from the government. We supplement it with money from private individuals and foundations. We want to make sure that the food we give to children is hot, nutritious, safe and tasty. We want children to be happy that they will receive a meal at noon – explains the CEO of the foundation.
Currently, the foundation serves 19,000 people. schools in 14 states and two union territories in India. Kitchen staff create menus based on student preferences and feedback from specific areas. For example, Akshaya Patra kitchens in the northern regions of India may prepare dishes such as roti.
In southern India, rice is more commonly consumed as a staple food and children love the rice-based dishes prepared by the foundation.
— I love bisi bele bath because it tastes the best. This meal reminds me of my grandmother, says one of the students.
Another important aspect of Akshaya Patra is that we want to give children what their mothers would give them if they were at home and had the resources. Of course, no one can replace a mother, but Akshaya Patra tries to come close to what her mother could cook
says Shridhar.
– We want children to be happy that they will receive a meal at noon – explains the CEO of the foundation
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It is impossible to run such a large program in a mechanical, official way. All the staff involved in the Akshaya Patra program feel compassionate and kind towards the children. This compassion greatly motivates us to work every day, thanks to which we can perform our tasks and responsibilities with our hearts
Chanchalapathi explains.
