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She started her career as a tourist guide 25 years ago but found her passion in cooking. Meet Giovanna Marson , the master Italian chef at Taj Coromandel, in town till July 17 to whip up “fine dine” Italian cuisine at Taj Bengal, Prego-style (Prego is the flagship Italian restaurant of the Taj Group).
“There are two trendy cuisines around the world that are catching on — Italian and Japanese. The reason being, both are fresh, organic and healthy,” says Marson whose careergraph includes stints in China, Japan (Hilton, Tokyo), and the La Piccola Cuoca, her own restaurant in Milan, Italy.
Four years in India has brought to her keen eye, palate preferences. “In Italy, garlic is the poor man’s food, in India it is used in generous proportions in many dishes. I was shocked to see that in Korea they eat raw garlic,” she says. The chef also points to the Indian “preference for very sweet dessert” because of the spicy food. “No wonder diabetes is rampant here. Even Coke and Pepsi taste sweeter in India,” she adds.
Another pattern she observes is the lifestyle spending of the average Indian. “He or she will spend on saris, jewellery and land but not on good food. Maybe that will change,” says a hopeful Marson, whose fave local Indian food and fruit is idli and mango.
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| Spaghetti (with chilli, basil and tomato sauce) |
As opening chef at Prego in 2007, the 50-year-old found that initially, there were many complaints about the blandness. “‘Why don’t you make spicy food?’ people would ask me,” she says. But she refused to compromise on her flavours by “Indianising” them and now the response is good “because diners have travelled and are more educated about cuisines the world over”.
The closest, Marson says, she has come to Italian food is in Japan. “And that’s because they can copy well. In fact, they can copy your dish and make it even better than the original!” So, to give Calcutta a taste of “real” Italian food, the lady chef — and there are, sadly, few in the city — will rustle up a menu including Caprese Salad, Salami Platter, Borlotti Bean Soup, Milanese-style Risotto (with porcini mushroom) and Spaghetti (with chilli, basil and tomato sauce). For the main course, pick from King-size Prawns with Thyme Pesto or Spicy Chicken and finally, sweeten your tastebuds with the “authentic version” of Tiramisu.
P. S: There is no pizza because pizza is street food in Italy and this is “fine dine” Italian.
A meal for two (a la carte) would cost Rs 1,800 (taxes extra).
