Conjurer of exotic delights

What must have been a child8217;s indulgence took to being a more serious interest and led Gokhale to join the Hotel Management course at the Catering College of Bhubhaneshwar. Here in addition to studying the course, Gokhale had the opportunity of sampling rare eastern delicacies8217; namely snake pickle and cockroach chutney8217;. Amused at my shocked expression, he explains that these dishes are common there and it is the white cockroach8217; that is hunted for the latter preparation.

Steering the topic to something more palatable, Gokhale continues, 8220;after I completed my course I decided to join the ITDC group as they had a two year training programme for chefs. During the time I was with them I was sent to Bodh Gaya. Here we had to cater to guests who were basically pilgrims from the Far East. Cooking for them was a different experience as their food habits and customs were quite different to our8217;s. So I experimented and improvised my cooking to suit their tastes.8221;

From one holy place to another. This time Gokhale was sent to the venue of the Kumbh Mela .8220;I was part of a twenty member team that was headed by Sanjeev Kapoor. The food was pure Indian Vegetarian minus onions and garlic. Catering to a crowd of almost ten thousand on a daily basis was a first for me at least!8221; After his stint with the ITDC, Atul went on to join the Mahindra owned GuestLine and Resorts8217;.8220;I was involved in the opening of the hotel and was also responsible for the starting of the open-air Italian restaurant Al-Fresco. Here the clientele was basically very upmarket. So catering to them meant chalking out elegant menus with something different each time.8221;

For today8217;s clientele where low calorie food is the pass word to retaining their trim selves, Chef Gokhale got his chance to improvise on his recipes when GuestLine played official hosts to the Miss India Contestants for three consecutive years. But it is his years spent with the Bombay Hospital that he terms as 8220;the turning point of my life.8221; 8220;Interacting with patients, some of whom were terminally ill made me realise the importance of good health. I particularly remember a man who was had cancer which was terminal. He knew that he had very few days left. Yet he was fussy about his meals. Each time I would go to meet him I would realise the irony of life8230;we take so much for granted and yet here at the hospital there were so many like him who couldn8217;t even partake the simple joys of eating normal meals. All this geared me to become a more sensitive person.8221;

As an individual who has spent many years catering to the glitterati, there are a few whom he remembers specially.8220;Sunny Gavaskar always enjoyed the prawns that we served, Vengasarkar had a weakness for squids while Bal Thakeray would always order baby lamb legs8221;.

But what about his own likes .8220;I like my simple life-style for I am basically a simple and straight forward person .8221; A simple man with simple tastes. A man who believes in reaching out to our hearts through our appetites. A belief that has in fact been justified, time and again, by those who have been gourmands to his dishes!