Column

Yesterday while some Indians celebrated Independence Day, a clear majority took a convenient day off and relaxed at home with family. That is exactly how significant (or not) August 15 is to us. I shouldn’t complain nor criticise for I am no better. I did little else than hang with a few friends and discuss how China appeared way better poised than India.

We seem to have forgotten the value of what we have. From our culture, our religion, traditions to something more basic but big for me — cuisine.

Indian cuisine is perhaps the most bastardised culinary child in the world; no wait, the Chinese beat us at this dishonour as well. But Indian food has as many variations as there are states and then as many dis-variations as there are immigrants in foreign lands.

Cuisines of our states are the most under-exploited and under-marketed in the world.
Ask any enterprising restaurateur and he will regale you with his next fusion Sino-French project, or his take on New Eastern Mediterranean flavours, or even Tex-Mex for that matter, but not one will be willing to bet his money on doing some traditional Indian fare from any part of the country.

Mumbai has it better than Delhi: there is more variety on offer than the latter where butter chicken rules roost (excuse the pun). Gujarati, Malabari, Konkani, Tamil, Mangalorean, Telangana, Bengali, Jain... the list is exhaustive. Yet we refrain from
experimenting with them, even discussing them because essentially, we know nothing about them.

Any Indian can hold forth more on al dente pasta than he can on Guntur chillies — how lamentable! Needless to say, we don’t even dare pair such with wine and end up nodding our accord to Westerners who are too intimidated by our rich
gastronomy as it is.

Indian cuisine is varied, vast and versatile. It can work with wine as much as the next cuisine you stumble upon. But to pair wine and food we need to understand both wine and food. Now wine maybe understandably a distant prospect for many of us; it is also a more expensive proposition. But food is never so inaccessible. Hence we must work continuously work at learning more about it. All it takes is eating and trying. Sure you will need exercise but who in urban India doesn’t!?

I am urging all of you to take your families out for a meal over the weekend but don’t just settle for Sushi or Spaghetti; aim higher, nobler, richer — try something Indian. Stray away from your comfort zone and head to a restaurant where you don’t know the manager and especially not the cuisine. If you really want to spice it up (again, excuse the pun) get some wine to go with it. Get a nice New Zealand Pinot Noir red — fruity and elegant. Or pair up with a graceful Californian white, or an Australian oaked
Chardonnay. A richer more heated Chilean or Argentinean red or a Southern Italian type could work well with kebabs or Southern spiced lamb.

What did you say — why not try an Indian wine? Well, even our valuable patriotism which can combat artillery and army needs protection from evil allies of ignorance, like bad taste.

But that, my friends, would be a true Independence meal: to order our own food and pair it with wine of our own choice — freedom should be so sweet, or intoxicating, or best, both!

The writer is a sommelier