Foodie Passion

Originally Posted On: 14 April 2012

My activity on saturday evenings here in Valparaiso is usually a long walk along the bike track by the sea and listening to live music (surprisingly English songs too!!!) on the old pier.

But today I stay back home watching Gordon’s Great Escape. Its a British television series

featuring myfavourite professional chef Gordon Ramsay. If you follow any cooking shows outside India (I do!! Huge fan of MasterChef Australia) then you will know this guy. He is the owner of more than 20restaurants and holds more than 10 Michelin stars. But he is most famous for his temper and ‘on the face’ comments.

In the Great Escape, Gordon, considered to be one of the best chefs in the world travels around India to gain expertise in the cuisine which baffles the chefs of the west. My interest in the show was to find the answer to the question ‘Will a chef from the west ‘get’ my mom’s cooking?’

Myexperiences with food here in Chile left me very doubtful of the answer to be ‘Yes’. For sure Chileans cant. The basic knowledge of how to use salt and pepper which even a novice cook like me is a master of, cant seems to find itself into the local dishes here. Also the concept of vegetarian completely baffles people here. ( Chile is supposed to be far better than Argentina. A fellow traveller suggested to me that if I ever go across the border, I should tell the locals that I amallergic to meat instead of explaining ‘vegetarian’)

Coming back to the show, Gordon travels to all corners of India exploring different cuisines and also challenging himself to create dishes from what he has learnt. This passion of learning from a top chef of his caliber, is truly an inspiration for me to keephoning my skills everyday. In the end, being the world class chef that he is, Gordon masters ourtechniques of cooking and even cooks the main course for the Mumbai’s elite at the Taj.

Also the show has inspired me to enter the kitchen more often when I go back to India!! So Mom/Sis here comes the long overdue help you always wanted in the kitchen… or at least you pray I will be of help ;)