“Eat Good, Look Good, Feel Good” can be summed up as Mrs Dorothy Krishnan’s life mantra. That is how 50Faces felt about her, after the interview. She was a lady on a mission; preaching good nutrition for good health to the community.

She is a teacher, chef, author and television personality. She achieved all this through her skills in whipping up healthy recipes.

Her passion for cooking and her curiosity in understanding what goes into the food lead her on the path to master cooking at a young tender age of 14. Born and educated in Singapore, she chose the teaching profession; specializing in food and nutrition. While she loves cooking, she is also a passionate school teacher who places the interests of her students first and takes all effort to ensure a smooth learning journey. Although she never learnt Tamil and was an English teacher by training, she decided to impart the subject in Tamil to the students in Umar Pullavar for their better understanding. Although it was challenging for her, it was her commitment to help children excel in studies which took precedence. Today, even at the age of 70, she continues to teach in the schools.

“I had no skills in cooking but from a young age, I had an interest in what are the ingredients and what is it’s purpose.”

Mrs Dorothy’s foray into the media limelight started in 1968 when she first appeared on a weekly TV programme to educate the community on healthy cooking in Tamil as part of a program presented in the 4 languages. This journey then continued on to many other programs and even over radio stations. Many would remember Dorothy Krishnan on TV even before color television was introduced in Singapore. Her recipes and tips on subjects like sewing and simple home remedies, resonated with her audience; the homemakers and housewives at home.

“I wasn’t very confident with my Tamil but my lecturer encouraged me to go ahead. He would tell us that our message was more important than our command of the language.”

Mrs Dorothy says one of her proudest achievement is the publication of her first cookbook called ‘EZ cookbook’ in 2009. She took almost 5 years to complete the book which some would consider as a long time given her experience. But Mrs Dorothy Krishnan was a perfectionist. She took a lot of effort to ensure that readers will be able to replicate her recipe without any problems. She meticulously listed out every ingredient and all the necessary steps. She experimented tirelessly to ensure her recipes turn out exactly the way she had wanted it to be.

Although she laboured over the birth of her first recipe book, she didn’t think twice about putting it to good use. She shared the joy of her achievement by giving away copies of the book free for organisations to monitise them. “A recipe for Kindness “said SINDA in appreciation of the donation of her books for Project Give fundraising. She also donated the books to her church to raise funds.This is over and above what Mrs Dorothy already does on a regular basis where she cooks to provide food free of charge to the less fortunate at her church once a month.

“I never had the intention of profiteering from the sales of the books. It was out of my own pocket.”

50Faces hopes Mrs Dorothy’s sharing had a positive impact on that who want to eat and live a healthy life. She shared many tips with us during the course of the interview one of which was to set aside cut vegetables for dinner rather than cooking it at one go during lunch. This according to Mrs Dorothy helps to preserve the nutritional value of the food which diminishes after it is cooked. She also cautions against over cooking meat and vegetables which also diminished the nutritional value of the food besides making meat more tough. This would inadvertently lead to indigestion and discomfort.

Mrs Dorothy wish for SG50 is to bring back the old home economics curriculum in schools which taught students cooking and sewing among others. She strongly feels such skills will give children a sense of ownership and a DIY mentality . We wish Mrs Dorothy the best wishes and look forward to more recipes from her to tantalise our taste buds without worrying about putting on the pounds.

“You need not have to be a graduate or hold masters or what. You can also be successful in life through all these little pathways.”