According to Anup Gupta, the executive chef of the hotel, ingredients like mustard, corn, rice, wheat, fruits and vegetables are grown on the property.
Housewife chefs have a separate kitchen, complete with utensils and a domestic burner, and the tall chef's cap.
Gateway Hotels corporate chef Natarajan Kulandai said the home style food is only on the a la carte and buffet menu so that it can be served "fresh and piping hot".
"We will soon have room service for home style food, which will be in tiffin carriers, just like people take home food to work," the Chennai-based Kulandai told IANS.
In their 22 properties across India, the five-star hotel group has 19 homemaker chefs who cook 17 types of cuisines.
"The hiring of housewife chefs is on a word-to-mouth basis. In Chennai, we found a lady from Trichy who prepares typical Tamilian Brahmin, or Tam Brahm, food, including chutneys and papad. We are on the look-out for a lady in Kolkata who can cook east Bengali food," Kulandai said.
They prefer women with no hotel industry experience.
"Regular chefs come straight from catering colleges and have a tendency to make fancy food. They add ingredients and make it rich to suit foreigners and other guests. We wanted to deviate from this and serve actual home food. We started this concept in 2009 with two hotels in Varanasi and Calicut, and it has been a success ever since," Kulandai added.
The women 'home chefs' are not regular staffers but taken on contracts that are renewed if necessary.
