Enlightenment to Hospitality Industry
I being a hospitality graduate which is a degree that a common mother in India would not like their son to have or aspire for their son being one saying, “I don’t want to make my son a waiter!” Yes you westerners out there (if you come across my article) that’s the general perception the Indians have. The profession is way too under-rated than what it deserves! I don’t blame us the Indians because that’s the kind of awareness in India about hospitality industry……. my industry.Some people will come and ask me the most stupid of questions of course I don’t blame them but then sometimes it’s really irritating after all I’m a human being too. People will ask me questions like, “ How do I marinade a broiler chicken as I’m used to marinating only country chickens in our countryside?” or “We eat food in air-conditioned dining room in the house? How do you people get rid of food smells in such room?” (For gods sake spray the air freshener man!!) and many more questions which I can give you in detail when we meet in person cause right now I want to bring some light to the Indian population specifically about the hospitality industry….
Hospitality industry is not just about food. Of course food is an integral part of the industry but the industry does not start and end with food. There are 4 core or operational departments like the Food Production, Food and Beverage Service, Front Office and the Housekeeping. (Did you know that majority of the hotels revenue in derived from rooms and not food?) Beyond these operational departments there is a lot more to a multi-crore property like Human Resources, Sales and Marketing, IT, Finance, Accounts, Purchase, Security and the Engineering department which work back in the hotel and there are numerous carrier building opportunities out there as well which pay equivalent to any other industry. (So mothers watch out the opportunities for your child and try learning more about hotels cause trust me you are missing it.)
The Kitchen Story:
People (most of them) outside the industry feel working in the kitchen is as simple as switching on a fan or like putting raw ingredients in a magic machine and then whatever comes out go and serve it to the guest. This could be true in a Irani or a Udipi or some other insignificant joint on the road. But hey, when you a talking about a fine dining restaurant it means BUSINESS… it literally means FINE DINING! In a fine dining restaurant there’s a magic machine called THE CHEF (Did you know Chef means The Chief?) Every time a product is made (that’s how food is addressed inside a restaurant kitchen) trust me it has to have the same taste and the same size and the same weight with the same colour, the same texture, the same shape, the same presentation, the same accompaniments and served at the right temperature! If you don’t do it right… hoho…. Buddy you got appraisals to be signed soon! Also you loose out from regular clients cause they expect the same damn product everytime and then there’s nothing wrong expecting that… we charge them, don’t we? A product Abc has to be like product Abc every time... Ofcourse you can potray your creativity by making other products but do not disturb the standards and authenticity of a particular product. We’ve to see that the entire meal has the correct amount and the correct combination of hot and sour, sweet and pungent, bland and spicy, soft, smooth, crunchy, tender etc etc. That’s how you can keep a person interested in the meal, throughout the meal right? (Did you know that a French Classical Menu can have as many as 13 courses and can last for even 4-5 hours or even more?)
By now I’m sure its clear to you that a restaurant kitchen doesn’t function like a house kitchen.
Cooking food is an art with a lot of science involved. Its about creating something with your own hands… its about building a product with your own hands and you’ll start getting satisfaction only once you start creating things the way its done in fine dining kitchens and dollop of appreciation on top of the creation is a bonus!
India and the world:
I agree the Indian cuisine does not make us understand what really needs to be understood as a gourmet. We have
varied cuisines within the country. It is typical for an Indian to abuse cuisines of other nations and say, “ Mera bharat aur khana mahan.” I agree that we got depth in our cuisine but that does not justify that we have a superior cusine and not appreciate other cuisines (besides Chinese which is an entire huge topic altogether). The actual reason behind this is the Indian palettes are so much used to the myriad of spices and the garam masalas (and now we are not open to any other flavours) that we’ve burnt the taste buds of our palette to actually understand the mild and subtle tastes and aromas of other cuisines of the world or say even wines. I’m sure most of us wont understand what a connoisseur or a sommelieur is speaking about a wine in a wine tasting session because we lack the palette to actually understand the wine. Majority of us wont be able to identify how a chicken tastes by itself (even thinking it makes us feel pathetic) as we are so used to stuffing chicken with lots of spices and consuming it where we somewhere forget to appreciate the subtle tastes and flavors that occur naturally in food always overpowering them with spices and then eating “spiced chicken” or make it the other way “Chickened Spices”. Although I must say the scene in India is changing gradually.Ever wondered why Indian cuisine is not as popular as Italian or Spanish cuisine or the entire continental cuisine as a whole in the world? The primary reason is our cuisine is not well documented. For instance, if you go to an Indian restaurant and order for um… lets say a dish as simple as Chicken Roghani (that’s how the urban population says it as. But hey it’s a Indian dish right? Then make it sound Indian. Why do we say Chicken Tandoori and not Murg Tandoori or Mutton Roganjosh and not Gosht Roganjosh and some people would write on their menu cards POTATO BHAJI! Why are we so influenced by the westerners that we even forget what our food is called? Just say Aloo ki Subji or if you really want to speak English then call the entire dish in English like Chicken roasted in charcoal clay oven and flavored with spices and curd for Murg Tandoori); bet it you wont find the same Murg Roghani in other restaurant or sometimes even the same restaurant after an hour (personal experience). That fine day in a good reputed 5star hotel when I ordered for Murg Roghani for the 2nd round the waiter came with an answer as pathetic as, “ The Chef who cooked it earlier has ended his shift and went home (who served us a red curry while the new chef served us a white curry).” Can you believe that? I mean it was a 5star Indian restaurant? Even I fainted that day!
Looking at this pathetic state of our cuisine which desereves much more than that its only because its NOT WELL DOCUMENTED(Did you know Murg tikka masala is the highest selling item today in the UK?). We need to standardize all recipes in our cuisine…. You know this is one of the steps in preserving our rich culture and cuisine and an attempt to keep it as authentic as possible for centuries ahead.
The French and the Italians have documented their cuisine so well that when you order for Chicken Chasseur or let me correct it Poulet Saute Chasseur, you can expect a nice joint of chicken leg of a standard weight with some espagnol sauce and would definitely have sliced mushrooms, shallots and tomatoes in it! Now that’s what is documentation that we Indians must consider to progress our culinary art on par with any other cuisine! (Since our chefs have maintained their secrets about their dishes since centuries unlike the Italians, we have failed to popularize the cuisine amongst the chefs of other nations.)
Lets hope that this article has brought some enlightenment about the Hospitality sector and the cuisine of India to all of you. Lets make an attempt and give one more good reason to say, “Mera Bharat Mahan” cause we got the potential but we are just waiting for someone else to do it for us! (Remember food is an integral and substantial part of any culture.)
posted by Omkar @ 11:29 AM
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