Food for Thought

buying something.

Wherever you look,there’s food,food and more food. Is it the MasterChef or Nigella effect? Experiments in gastronomy seem to have become a national obsession and there are plenty of people doing really interesting stuff in baking and cooking. International quality bakeries have set up in

India,like the French one,L’Opera in Delhi that charges Rs 150 for a single macaroon and Rs 250 for a brown bread (unbelievably,everything there is flying off the shelf even at these absurd rates).

This explosion in food wouldn’t have happened if people weren’t posting pictures of delectable goodies online,spurring on groups dedicated to connecting obsessed food enthusiasts. Like Foodie by Nature on Facebook,that addresses any question related to an epicurean dilemma and many easy,wonderful recipes. Anyone with a fork and a computer feels entitled to review restaurants — Gourmet Planet,another group on Facebook,discusses and advises its members where to eat,if you’re travelling to LA,London,New York or Paris.

With all these musings on food coming at us from everywhere,it naturally follows that people want to hone their culinary skills. I first heard of chef Swathi Venkatesan,39,from a school friend,Aarti Sarin,who runs the blog bakingfrommyheart.blogspot,where she had posted a picture of a perfect cake decorated in fondant and butter cream icing that she learnt from Venkatesan,who runs something called the Great Desserts Company. It’s a consultancy for pastry and confectionery professionals or people who are in the process of setting up commercial kitchens. Venkatesan is an accomplished chef who has worked at the Raj Vilas in Jaipur and the restaurant Mosiman’s in London. More recently,she headed the pastry

operations at the US Olympic Committee House at the London 2012 Olympics. Occasionally,she holds classes for novices. Venkatesan makes the entire process of baking seem effortless. At one of her classes where the theme was healthy baking,the menu was butterless Provencal yoghurt cake,Genoise Sponge and Oatmeal cookies. Venkatesan is chatty,full of anecdotes of her life as a chef in restaurants around the world. She described how she had dropped the wedding cake of her boss’s son a couple of hours before it had to be served. Similar calamities,she assures us,happen in the best kitchens of the world,like adding salt instead of sugar and forgetting about stuff burning in the oven.

Her tips,though,are invaluable for anyone who has a developing interest in baking. She describes every ingredient simply,clearly stating its role in baking a good cake; it makes it a lot easier to get it right. Icing a cake is great fun and even if you’re a clutz,she patiently explains how to flatten it,neatly.

I learnt that hung yoghurt mixed with honey tastes no different from pastry cream,and you can indulge guilt-free,provided you try out innovative recipes. Her advice is to keep baking,and you will eventually get the perfect cake by the fourth attempt. If you’re a little exhausted by the hundreds of photographs of incredible culinary feats on your Facebook feed,a short course with Venkatesan will quickly put you at par with the best.

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