brand logo

K’s Kitchen: A story of resilience

07 Sep 2020

By Naveed Rozais K’s Kitchen is one of the newest online small food businesses to enter Colombo’s food scene. The story behind K’s Kitchen is especially powerful because the chef behind the enterprise, Kesara Kahandaliyanage, is on the autism spectrum, and despite this, has been able to overcome his difficulties with learning and develop his craft to the point of being able to make it a business with the help and support of family and friends. The Morning Brunch reached out to K’s Kitchen to learn more about this unique, inspiring home business.

Nurturing and growing an early passion

Malathi Kahandaliyanage, Kesara’s mother, explained that Kesara’s only interests as a young child were playing with fire and water. Kesara’s autism showed itself with sensory abnormalities, with Kesara being hypersensitive to some things and hyposensitive (showing reduced sensitivity) to others, meaning that in certain instances, like with heat, for example, he wouldn’t respond to it as other people would, not realising he was in danger of harming himself. “When Kesara was a child, we were constantly on the watch. He would never play with toys like other children, he would only watch. His only interests were fire and water. I became a special educator so that I could help him learn,” Malathi shared. “The consensus in Sri Lanka at the time was to institutionalise children like Kesara. I became an educator to be able to show him how the world worked and because I wanted others to look at Kesara and see that he was a child with difficulties as opposed to an animal.” Taking into account Kesara’s interests, Malathi came up with cooking. It was a way of engaging in Kesara’s interests while doing something constructive. There was a lot of regulation and care needed, but step by step, Kesara began to develop, helping the family in the kitchen – something that was very important. “Most of the time, kids with special needs don’t get that chance to feel like an important and functional part of the family,” Malathi explained. Kesara showed a talent for cooking, Malathi explained, being able to create and duplicate the different things he tasted at restaurants. Studying up to grade five in regular school, Kesara was enrolled in a vocational school abroad that helped him polish his skills and work on his areas of interest.

Integrating into an everyday world

At the age of 17, Kesara had developed his talent and skill to the point where he was ready to be able to be part of a professional kitchen. With the invaluable support of Asthika Subramaniam, whose family owned the restaurant chain Chariot at the time, Kesara joined the Chariot kitchens as an intern, and was given tasks planned around his disabilities, which helped Kesara to learn important skills like focusing on specific tasks without getting distracted while helping him engage in his love of food and cooking. Eventually, the Chariot restaurant chain was sold, at which point Kesara, though apprehensive, decided to move to another restaurant and working environment, ending up joining the Green Cabin restaurant chain, since the Kahandaliyanage family knew the chef there. However, while at Green Cabin, Kesara was physically and sexually abused by other employees, with legal proceedings regarding the incidents still ongoing.

Rising above

Deeply upset by what had happened, there was a period during which Kesara didn’t cook, in any capacity. He slowly got back into it by making food for the family’s three dogs, and overcoming his apprehensions step by step. Understanding the importance of moving forward, Kesara, with the support of his family, took his first steps back into the kitchen, working with Giovanni’s Presto Pizza owner Dimuthu Gamage in Giovanni's kitchen, to gain back his confidence. With Gamage’s understanding and support, allowing Kesara to work in small time increments and at Kesara’s own pace, Kesara was able to slowly integrate back into working in a kitchen with people he wasn’t familiar with. He still continues to work at Giovanni’s to date. The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown in Sri Lanka brought the country to a standstill, and in Kesara’s case, not being able to go to work as he usually did, he started experimenting and making different things at home. Kesara’s love of cooking meant that he had cooked for others before, including his sister Shiwanthi’s friends, other friends and family, and for family events. “During Covid, we decided to put up K’s Kitchen on Facebook, and see if it was something that could work,” Malathi shared. 

Building a special needs-friendly working environment

“Kids with autism need to be told beforehand what is expected of them,” Malathi explained, adding: “And there will be things that they are not able to do. Kesara can only cook; even if it is for 100 people, he will only be able to cook. Other aspects of the process like going and buying ingredients can be challenging, though he does sometimes go and buy.” Both Malathi and Kesara’s sister, Shiwanthi, help Kesara with the operational side of K’s Kitchen. “When we get orders, we put it on a whiteboard and plan it out with Kesara; we ask him if he is able to handle the order,” Malathi shared, adding: “The managing part is something we need to support him in. His interest is in cooking and cooking alone. He has difficulty with interacting with people he is not familiar with. He enjoys seeing people enjoy his food and the looks on their faces.” The process for ordering from K’s Kitchen is also being developed to ensure that operations can flow as smoothly as possible. The response to K’s Kitchen has been very positive.

Looking ahead

Kesara’s story and that of K’s Kitchen is one of quiet perseverance and resilience. Speaking of the future, Malathi explained that it is Kesara’s dream to have his own food truck one day. On Malathi’s part, she hopes to be able to form a small cafe that can become a safe space where kids with special needs can come and be a part of a larger community. “There are many kids who can do the things that Kesara cannot do, who all have their individual skills and interests. “I want people to understand that kids with disabilities are still a productive part of their community.”


More News..