Change is imminent when it comes to food

Thirteen years with a hotel and chef Ramesh Dhani has seen the way things have changed with his favourite cuisine. Bengali food, he says, isn’t the way it used to be anymore. “A lot of the authentic dishes have made way for innovations, which apparently is the need of the hour,” he adds.

Chef Ramesh, who is in town for a Bengali food festival at ITC Windsor for the next 10 days, is trying to recreate some of the old magic in the Bangalore kitchen. “I’ve brought some of my ingredients with me, stuff that is not easily available in Bangalore. But for most of the other preparations, we are procuring ingredients locally,” he says.

It’s not just Bengali food — a lot of cuisines in India are losing their popularity simply because no one is interested in investing time in them.

Advertising professional, Raja Sinha, who also runs an exclusive catering company, was pulled into cooking after he saw a gradual demise in traditional Indian food. “We started Once Upon A Time because I was deeply involved in the art of preserving Bengali food. My wife and I have been collecting recipes for the last 12 years from the families of maharajahs, zamindars and other celebrities and the only way to preserve these recipes is to keep cooking them!” says Raja.

Even Ramesh agrees, “Everyone is in a big hurry these days and they’ve become so health conscious that most five star hotels and restaurants are changing the way old dishes are cooked to accommodate the new demands. Spices are toned down and we use less ghee and oil. A lot of people tell me all that it’s time for me to move on from the old methods to adopt the new.”

He goes on to add that a simple dish like even the Butter Chicken, which is popular worldwide, has undergone many changes, “I don’t know how many people remember the original look and taste of the dish. The bright red has made way to a mellow colour because people aren’t eating rich food anymore.”

According to Raja, the whole chase for the short cut is what has caused traditional foods to disappear. “I have a handful of elite clients because I refused to become a chain. I don’t even want a restaurant because that way I will lose the essence of the cooking immediately. There are some dishes that require 48 hours of preparation at minimum; how many people are willing to either wait that long or take that long to make it. Packed masalas have made way to hand-ground ones. But I haven’t given into modernism,” he says.

The West Bengal government has banned the production of poppy seeds in the state, which has led to, “not so great quality poppy seeds to come into the market; I don’t know where they come from but it turns black after some time,” says Ramesh, voicing his distaste with the changes that are not helping preserve the cuisine.

At the festival, Ramesh Dhani has made an effort to bring back some of the old memories of Bengali food — not just the ones that are most popular but even some creations that are rarely seen outside the state. However, before dishing out one of the most delectable mutton curries, he says we don’t have much of a choice but to give in to change, “I won’t say I am terribly happy but it’s something we all have to accept. Traditional food in India is going a different way.”