Chennai, July 26 - He has literally tickled people's palette and imagination with such dishes as halwa, an Indian pudding, made of onions and even green chillies. Now his experience as an innovative chef and teacher has earned K. Damodaran a PhD.

The University of Madras has given this 53-year-old author of 17 cookery-related books with as many as 2,722 recipes a doctor of philosophy degree - and this he claims is India's first doctorate in hotel management and catering technology.

A teacher himself, passionate to educate students in cooking skills, Damodaran's 169-page thesis explains the potential for distance education in hotel management and with curriculum framed for courses for durations ranging from six months to two years.

'The curriculum envisages practical as well as theory knowledge. Practicals in class rooms and theory through distance education,' Damu, as he is fondly called by friends and associates, told IANS.

'People are interested in catering technology even in small towns. Many people working in hotels also want to hone their skills to go up the ladder. The hospitality industry is in need of good people and my thesis is precisely about these issues,' he says.

Damodaran has always been one to plunge into things unconventional.

In the 1970s, when cooking was hardly a career of choice, his decision to quit a bachelor's programme in chemistry to enrol at the Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology here caused some anxiety to his parents.

'My mother was worried that if her son becomes a 'cook', he won't be able to get a suitable life partner. So to satisfy her, I completed B.Com through correspondence and also got a master's degree in business administration from Madras University.'

After graduation, the chef worked at five star hotel chains such as ITDC, Taj and ITC WelcomGroup, but in 1986, he put aside the chef's hat to become a teacher.