Chefs at Delhi’s Maurya Sheraton hotel are feeling honoured that they will get to cook meals for yet another US president. But they have a tricky job on their hands.
Chefs at Delhi’s Maurya Sheraton hotel are feeling honoured that they will get to cook meals for yet another US president. But they have a tricky job on their hands.
Chefs at Maurya are busy trying to figure out what kind of food will appeal to the US president, given his preference for fast food and meat. “Hotels chefs are preparing a special platter for Obama, something they had done for former president Bill Clinton.” In 2000, during Bill Clinton’s visit, chefs created a platter which had an aromatic spread of mixed meats, lentils and oven-baked bread.
In June, while making a rare visit to the state department for a reception for external affairs minister SM Krishna, Obama declared his culinary designs. “I intend to create an Obama Platter,” he declared. “I am told one of secretary [of state Hillary] Clinton’s favourite restaurants in Delhi has added a new item to the menu — the ‘Hillary platter,’ he said before turning to Clinton and asking, “What does it have — chapati?”
“It’s got all kinds of things,” said a delighted Clinton. The ‘Hillary platter’ she created on July 19, 2009 at Delhi’s Bukhara restaurant has much more than the chapati. The mouth-watering fare includes murgh malai kabab, seekh kabab, paneer tikka, tandoori aloo, sikandari raan, dal bukhara, tandoori jhinga, mixed raita, naan and kulfi.
But the presidential palate appears to be markedly different from the former first lady’s. A year before he became president, Obama said in an interview that his favourite food is from Italian Fiesta Pizzeria in Hyde Park, Chicago.
During the campaign, he was often seen eating fast food — from donuts to pork chops to fried chicken. Days before being sworn in he went to popular Ben’s Chili Bowl on Washington’s U Street for a chilli half smoke and sweet tea, plus cheese fries. And despite First Lady Michelle Obama’s healthier eating campaign, the president has not stopped indulging in an occasional Philadelphia cheese steak sandwich, enjoying a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone.
So, on his India trip, will Obama bite into a malai tikka burger?
— With inputs from IANS
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