Muhammad Saleem

Culinary skills hold the key to a stable and sustainable income source for youth and women. Shahid Mumtaz, Vice President of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said to tackle the menace of unemployment, we need to teach young people essential skills so they can ensure a decent living for their families and strengthen the national economy. He said with every passing day the tourism sector is growing rapidly across the globe. He said tourism also promotes global brotherhood, enabling people to branch out into new ventures. Food is a universal need, and Pakistani women can easily excel in this sector because they have traditional expertise in this field.

By making them aware of global demands, he said we can train women to become top-notch chefs. He urged the educational institutions to launch programs that introduce culinary skills and ensure female students can achieve excellence in this field. He emphasized that students who do not have access to higher education should acquire culinary skills instead of wasting their valuable time. With the help of culinary skills, he claimed that we can battle unemployment and strengthen the local and national economy. Asma Ahmed, a student of culinary arts at a private college, said the culinary arts in Pakistan are evolving at breakneck speed and people are earning handsome money with their skills.

She said that people are fed up with the junk food or the food served in traditional hotels. One can question the hygienic level at the traditional hotels, owing to this, she said the people, particularly shopkeepers, prefer to have home-cooked foods. She said with the rise of social media and food-based TV shows, interest in culinary skills is growing among the youth. Her institute has launched a program aimed to provide high-quality culinary education. The program equips students with the necessary skills to thrive in this industry, she said adding culinary skills can open doors to various career paths, from becoming a chef to starting a food business. Ms Khan, a culinary teacher, talking about the barriers to entry for young people and women who want to pursue culinary careers, said that access to quality training programs is a major stumbling block.

She said several institutions have launched culinary arts programs, however, they are not able to match the same level of education or facilities. She said it has been observed that even women from rural backgrounds are exceptional in cooking, however, cultural norms discourage the majority of women from pursuing careers outside the home. Soon, we would witness a time when women would be behind the steering of their culinary businesses, while we are witnessing a positive change in perceptions, she added. Shamim Hafeez, who runs a home-based food venture, said she started a home-based catering business a few years ago.

Now I am raking in handsome money for my family and my business is thriving by leaps and bounds, she claimed. She said the flexibility of running a food business from home allows her to balance family responsibilities coupled with earning a stable income. “Culinary skills have truly been a game-changer for me. We are trying to find ways to expand our business so that we can create jobs for the housewives,” she asserted. She said that she had learnt practical skills—like cooking techniques, food safety, and business management. All such techniques are crucial and the government should offer courses at multiple levels to harness the potential of culinary skills.

Credit: INP-WealthPk