ME AND MY FREQUENCY

It’s a little difficult to see India leading the world in Gastronomy even 20 years down the line the way we are going now. I was pretty disappointed to see that I was one of the 1st two attendees ever present at Madrid Fusion- A gastronomy summit held every year in Madrid. Madrid Fusion has been a platform for the leading chefs of the world and provides a unique opportunity for cuisine professionals to witness the best chefs of the world displaying their work and research. It is a display of ingenuity and creativity that ranks among the best artistic gatherings… the art of cooking.
Alvaro Cunqueiro, a Spanish writer wrote, “Cusine is one of the subtlest and deepest inventions of human soul and the pleasure to be derived from its enjoyment is not a matter to be taken lightly.” And hats off to the Spanish chefs… they have lived up to the saying!
Spanish gastronomy has gained wider recognition on the international front by virtue of its Avant-garde techniques and component elements… thanks to Ferran Adria and his team. If we compare, the Spaniards like the Indians have a big country with varying geographical conditions fostering variation in their cuisine like it varies for us from the Ganges to the Nilgiris. More than a decade back, Spain was hardly anywhere in the map of the most popular cuisines (of course except for tapas, paella and sherry). European food meant French and Italian.
I always wonder what India lacks to be a global leader in gastronomy. Why can’t the world see India beyond Tandoori chicken or a Chicken Tikka Masala? Analyzing further, I realized, centuries ago the French started standardizing each and every dish of their creating classical recipes and papered it into an Encyclopedia of French Food- La Rousse Gastronomique… the book which is referred by any chef in the world! Documenting was just one part... Researching on improving ingredients then it may be Poulet de Bresse, foiegras, cheese, wines, mustard and the list went on.. It was only their documentation, research on cooking techniques and ingredients that let them to become the mecca of the food world.
Around 2 decades back, a chef, started his carrier as a dish washer, now running the best restaurant in the world, where if you wish to dine have to book at least 8 months in advance, Ferran Adria of El Bulli came up with Avant Garde cuisine. Avant garde cusine in layman’s terms would be intelligently combining cuisine with chemistry and technology. Who would have ever thought that Liquid nitrogen, calcium chloride baths, sodium alginate and many more compounds could ever be used in kitchens? Well to throw some light there are mixers under vaccum which are used for blending which prevents oxidation in chutneys (or anything you blend) which helps retaining the colour and increases the shelf like of the product too. It actually all originated from a French scientist called- Herve This who researched for example on meat not as meat but proteins... further detailed it into what kind of protein and its reaction with temperature, moisture, air and how can we cook a particular protein better (Try hard boiling a egg at home at 60 degrees celcius and you’ll see the difference- bright yellow yolks consistently in all eggs done to perfection!) However it was Ferran Adria and his team who refined the theories and brought it to another level and finally availing it in his restaurant. In an Indian scenario, most of the chefs (and I don’t mean ALL) tend to not research and improve techniques on cooking food. We have always followed the ancient cooking techniques irrespective of whether they a right or wrong. To top it all the good recipes have always been kept as secrets, not shared or documented by our chefs and the recipes died with them. But Ferran Adria shared all his knowledge with his fraternity who with their knowledge of Spanish flavours incorporated avant garde techniques and revolutionized a restaurant menu. Today the 1st line chefs of Spain- Ferran Adria, Pedro Subijana, Juan Mari Arzak have mastered Avant Garde techniques who shared it further to create a 2nd line of Spanish chefs like Rocca brothers, Quique Dacosta, Andon Louis Adruiz and in the mode of creating 3rd line of Spanish chefs like Sergio Azagra and Davide Munoz.
They have set an excellent example of the kind of work culture that should thrive within a fraternity where knowledge is shared, nurtured and passed to the next generation. It has played a very significant role in upbringing Spain to the position it will be in the next few years.
The Indians need to take a lesson from the Spaniards of sharing knowledge and give away the Ustad-Chela culture which thrived for centuries in India. Gone are the days of secret recipes of Maharajas… where the chef was given bakshish for his creation… its time that we need to fill in the holes in our cuisine, standardize it like the French did, conducting lab research on our cooking techniques and ingredients, Sharing knowledge with younger chefs like the Spaniards do, and try becoming contemporary with the cooking methods creating a niche of Indian Chefs who would have restaurants booked for months together!

Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.