Friday evening could not have been better than the Beatles’ classics finding their way into each and every corner of the room along with the aroma of a fresh array of progressive British food, at the International Institute of Hotel Management in Sector V, Salt Lake. Acclaimed chefs John Crockett and Shaun Kenworthy curated an exclusive dinner for distinguished guests on the campus. The chefs intended to do only one thing — educate the Indian audience that there is more to British food than fish and chips.
The best of British ‘grub dinner’ as they called it, served to the guests by the students, consisted of as many as 27 items including soup, savoury pass-around snacks, the great British cold table, mains, and desserts comprising cakes, tarts and puddings. The dishes had been prepared by the institute’s students under the tutelage of the two celebrated chefs as there is no better way to learn than by doing it yourself. Many of the ingredients were locally sourced. For instance, tofu, Vannamei prawns, Bandel cheese, Kalimpong cheese, greens and veggies, thankuni pata, pork, Bhetki fish, bacon, chicken, mutton, eggs and jackfruit, had all been sourced locally to retain the authentic Indian flavor.
Before the sumptuous dinner began, the chefs sat down with the culinary director of IIHM, Sanjay Kak to discuss contemporary progressive British food and the external influences that have catalysed the slow and gradual evolution of one of the most-devoured cuisines in the world.
Answering a question on how imports have affected UK food, chef Crockett explained, “The direct and the indirect imports to Britain from various parts of the world through trade and other interactions such as the extended Empire, brought in many ingredients, agricultural products and cooking methods. The introduction of spices, tea and coffee has played an important role in the development of modern-day British cuisine.”
Grooming consultant Pinky Kenworthy
Speaking on what to expect from the culinary evening, the chef went on, “Shaun and I have been working on different recipes and ideas to showcase British food at its best here in Calcutta this evening. We are looking to portray different tastes, flavours and textures of traditional items from different parts of the UK. It will be a culinary tour for our guests to Wales and other parts of the UK through the extensive buffet we have pulled off together. We have sourced as many ingredients from the local market as possible. The idea is to showcase British food at its best in Calcutta. By virtue of the local sourcing of ingredients, the dishes have a bit of Indian flavours tucked in.”
About how he feels about coming to the City of Joy, the chef noted, “Calcutta is my second home and this is my seventh time in this city. The culture here is so much about gastronomy. Food unites the whole world. That was the whole force behind me curating this special line-up. I wanted to do traditional British food with a modern twist.”
Shaun Kenworthy said, “Europe has been a melting pot for people from all over the world for almost a century. Indian restaurants in the UK started around the 1930s. So a lot of people have grown up in the UK eating food from around the world. So in modernday Britain, I don’t really know if the food is fully traditional anymore. Having said that, we have not lost touch with the traditional angle. But if you visit a ‘British” restaurant in the UK today, you’ll get all kinds of cuisines. You will have Indian food, British food, Mexican food, etc. I think the first restaurant I had ever gone to was an Indian restaurant when I was about nine years old. Pretty much any small town in the UK will have an Indian restaurant today. Be it a small village or a big town in the UK, there will be an Indian restaurant. And you have to attribute this popularity that Indian food enjoys in the UK today to colonialism. There’s always been this relationship between the British and eating curry, really. If you go to the UK, the Brits are obsessed with Indian food. It’s just very much part of the British culture today. For instance, today I have done Scottish chicken curry, and to put it into perspective, there’s nothing foreign about curry.”
(l - r) Shaun Kenworthy, John Crockett and Sanjay Kak
“At IIHM, we do a lot of such activities where a lot of foreign chefs from various colleges from all across the world and hotels and even Michelin star chefs come and interact with our students. This gives our students first-hand knowledge about international cuisines, what is happening in other parts of the world and if there are any changes happening in the global cuisine scene. That is an important element in teaching. International chefs come not only during Young Chef Olympiad but all through the year. They keep coming and interacting with our students. They do food demos, they do lectures. John Crockett is here today after travelling to many other cities in India. Students are the real winners here. They gather so much practical and theoretical knowledge from these doyens,” said Sanjay Kak.
“As part of our learning policy, we have been doing this for the last nine years now. Ever since our Young Chef Olympiad put us on the world map, we have been getting chefs from different countries to come and teach our students. This time around, we have got Crockett and our very own Kenworthy who has been associated with IIHM for so many years. They are trying to educate us that British food is beyond fish and chips. And students are also getting to know about the food of the entire UK, not just England — we have Wales food, Scottish food, Northern Ireland food and more,” said founder-CEO of IIHM Dr Suborno Bose.
