Stories · Shanthi Gowda · Hebbal

The kitchen that wakes at five

30 August 2026 · 5 min read

Shanthi Gowda

Shanthi has run our Hebbal kitchen since it opened in 2019. Every one of the 22 cooks lives within two kilometres; most were mothers of children who ate the lunches before they cooked them.

The menu changes every day of the week and was written with a paediatric dietitian. What doesn't change is the rule Shanthi set on day one: if she wouldn't feed it to her own grandchildren, it doesn't go in the van.

“Children can tell when food is cooked with care. So can their mothers.”— Shanthi Gowda
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