Pick and Choose

What does one do when one has oddball guests who are finicky eaters? First it was just 8216;8216;I8217;m vegetarian8217;8217; that got a hostess8217; goat. But all of a sudden, more and more people are joining a tribe of picky-tarians.

Television hostess Simi Garewal is as renowned for her intimate dinners at home as she is for making guests cry during a Rendezvous. This one time, even Garewal was left stumped by an actor who came over for dinner just days after visiting an allergist. 8216;8216;She had just discovered she was allergic to wheat, flour, pasta etc. I realised she couldn8217;t have anything on the table.

So I made her a French omelette, which she relished,8217;8217; laughs Garewal.

Often there are guests who don8217;t eat seafood, but inform hosts in advance. But how rude is it when guests show up for dinner and say, 8216;8216;I can8217;t eat today, it8217;s my Tuesday fast8217;8217;? 8216;8216;That8217;s what annoys me the most,8217;8217; says Garewal, 8216;8216;why bother showing up at all?8217;8217;

Imagine having a do at which one guest is fatally lactose intolerant, another allergic to wheat, yet another can8217;t swallow nuts, someone8217;s on a diet, some other won8217;t eat flesh and another can8217;t have fish. I8217;m not coming.

Mumbai-based chocolatier Zeba Kohli has an English friend who survives on steamed rice and herbal teas. 8216;8216;The poor thing has serious gastric problems and can8217;t eat anything,8217;8217; she says. When some food items send you to the hospital, it8217;s one thing, but food fads are also culinary couture.

Naini Setalvad is one of Mumbai8217;s better known nutritionists and has plenty of clients she categorises as 8216;8216;fad eaters8217;8217;. 8216;8216;People want to abstain from fats or carbs, but first I try to understand if they follow this just because someone else does or will it genuinely work for them,8217;8217; she says. 8216;8216;The latest fad is a no-carb diet, which is crazy because carbohydrates have been an energy source since the birth of Christ,8217;8217; she laughs. 8216;8216;Breads, rotis and rice are a part of our daily meals and cutting them out means not having an important mineral and vitamin group.8217;8217;

According to Mumbai socialite Queenie Dhody, the worst guests are those on a diet. 8216;8216;They8217;ll call in and request for light meals, but at the party they8217;ll eat everything but the diet food. I often make just one fried snack for the men and find that the women go for it more than the guys do,8217;8217; she complains. 8216;8216;It8217;s the same with dessert. Women often say 8216;Don8217;t bring it in front of me8217;, but end up having it anyway.8217;8217;

Kohli observes that there are people who don8217;t eat maida but frequent Italian eateries and others who don8217;t eat seafood but love going to fancy seafood restaurants just 8216;8216;to be seen8217;8217;. 8216;8216;Having said that, my husband Rajesh and I don8217;t drink but often go with our friends to bars,8217;8217; says Kohli.

While catering for parties, Setalvad often gets requests to avoid dairy fat and wheat. 8216;8216;One gives in to them with a laugh, because it8217;s a party after all,8217;8217; she says.

My husband8217;s religion doesn8217;t allow him alcohol, he won8217;t touch a flute of Moet even on a weepy anniversary dinner. So he sticks out sorely at my Punjabi family8217;s dos, where a glass of Talisker is easier to get than water, and his feeble request for orange juice earns him dirty stares from the chachas.

We have a friend who won8217;t eat anything that used to walk or fly or swim. Once at a lavish sit-down, a platter of oysters with lemon and Tabasco arrived and she gladly scooped two with both hands. 8216;8216;Oh, an oysterian?8217;8217; I asked. 8216;8216;Nah,8217;8217; she laughed, 8216;8216;just a plain old snob.8217;8217;