Varanasi: It's nearly lunch time and homemaker Sangya Pandey is busy in the kitchen. An everyday routine for millions of women in India - but there's a difference here. People awaiting food cooked by Pandey are not family or even friends, but guests at a five-star hotel.
While the eating out culture has caught on like never before in India, weary travellers are constantly on the lookout for home-cooked food, or 'ghar ka khana', that offers comfort to the body and soul.
Feeding this particular thought and the fact that home-cooked food is the most authentic representation of a region's cuisine has brought homemakers to the kitchens of the Gateway Hotels and Resorts of the Taj group across India.
And when the menu says "home style food", it means just that.
"The only difference between cooking at home and cooking for hotel guests is that I have to cook slightly bigger portions," said Pandey, a chef at the Gateway Hotels in this Uttar Pradesh temple town.
