EAT! Vancouver

May 23, 2008 - I had some time available in my busy schedule before heading off to watch the premiere of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It also happened to be the opening night of EAT! Vancouver - the Everything Food + Cooking Festival. I did not pass up a chance to savour some tasty delights underneath the giant dome, and picked up a few recipes to add to my extensive repertoire at the same time.


There were sculptures made of chocolate, a wine tasting area, and many nations had set up booths sponsored by their respective tourism departments. Several stalls of prominent Vancouver restaurants were selling appetizer sized dishes for a couple of dollars worth of money. Cash had to be converted into coupons first, and then these coupons could be redeemed for the food items. Luckily, many other restaurants and food manufacturers were offering free food samples that were eager to fill my empty stomach. From sushi, jam, and pizza to dog food, pudding, and popcorn, I tasted the gamut of available treats. Somewhere through the culinary journey I developed a rash, but since I had eaten such a variety of dishes I could not trace the source of my discontent with any accuracy.

At the Food Network Celebrity Stage, I watched a cooking demonstration by BC's most famous chef Rob Feenie. Once he was finished, I posed for a photograph with him. I asked him whether he had ever cooked turtle, a specialty of mine, but he replied that his son would be very upset with him if he even attempted to do such a thing. Having satisfied my inner gourmand, I exited the premises just in time to see Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan roll past me. It was another unexpected treat in a night full of them.

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My rotund friend to operator of Indian food stall: I like butter chicken.

Stall operator: I can see that.

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Me (after being banned from a VIP seminar on cheese): The cheese is so close, but so far.

Cheese server: Tell me about it.

The Satyam Diet

I lost weight during the year I spent working in India. Most of it can be attributed to the Satyam Diet plan that I followed in Bangalore. My eating habits changed to accommodate my work schedule. My hours spent in the office were from around 10 in the morning to 7 at night. One hour on each side could be added as traveling time. Since my carefree existence allowed me to indulge in at least nine hours of sleep a night, by the time I woke up and got ready, there was no time for breakfast apart from some fruit or juice picked up on the way to work. The office gruel served at lunchtime was so consistent in its putridity that eating even a tiny portion of the fare tormented my taste buds and stripped me of my beloved appetite. Apart from the tasty morsels provided by office belles the amount of food I consumed during the midday meal was severely diminished. With two of the days three meals much smaller than I regularly had, dinner became a meal of meals. I would visit the finest establishments around the city, having food of singularly high quality but with a diversity of flavour, ingredients, and preparation.

No diet can be successful unless it combines both food intake and physical exertion. The exercise portion of the diet was provided by the 8 floors I had to climb every time I took a break (a surprisingly large number of times) with my colleagues or went to lunch. There was only one elevator for the many hundreds of employees, and with a significant proportion of these taking a break at any one moment in time, the elevator was always stuffed to overcapacity. The dozens of Satyamites left behind on each trip eagerly hoped that the next time the elevator opened its doors, they would find themselves within its friendly womb. Unable to bear the thought of lost productivity due to waiting for the lift, I resorted to using the stairwells to physically transport myself from the bottom of the building to the top and vice versa. During these breaks, often times I would partake in strenuous games of table tennis. My innate talent was not enough against my experienced opponents, so I had to work on my conditioning and reflexes. Other times I played carrom, a game similar to billiards or pool but played with bare hands.

Combined with the occasional escape from a wild mob or leap from a bus, the Satyam Diet worked wonders. Not only can a job provide opportunities for career development and financial stability, but it can also have a profound impact on other facets of life.

Canteen Angst

In the 8th floor of the Hebbal office of Satyam Computer Services Ltd lies the canteen. Affording stunning vistas of Bangalore, much time is spent on this floor by employees. In particular the view of Hebbal Kere (lake) is fantastic. During the course of my 8 month stay at this office, the lake was systematically drained until it was converted into a puddle. Hundreds of workers were then sent out to clear the lake bed of all the rubbish that had been deposited throughout the ages. Once the trash was removed the lake was to be refilled with clean water, allowing it to regain its original luster.


Apart from enjoying the view, a host of other activities take place here - playing table tennis or carrom, listening to Kannada songs on the radio, watching live cricket matches on television (or old games which India won), socializing with colleagues, and the most dreaded of all - eating the food provided by the caterers. A consistently putrid combination of rice, spice, and assorted gravies is offered to the masses who line up with trays in hand for their daily subsistence. The portions are great in size, but minimal in taste. More enterprising associates try to escape this facility in search of tastier dishes, but do so in vain. Encircled in barb wire fencing and high walls, the office is situated in a secluded business park. A shortcut to Hebbal village through military dairy testing facilities has also been blocked by the authorities. The sole remaining option is a hospital cafeteria located within the same complex. This is not a very palatable option either, although its business has boomed due to the influx of Satyam canteen refugees.

Taking a keen interest in the culinary welfare of my colleagues, I arrived at work earlier than usual one morning so I could attend a food meeting held by the building's corporate services staff at 10 am. They explained that the food was carted in during the morning from outside caterers as government bylaws prevented them from cooking fresh food anywhere but on the ground floor. The point that was driven home to attendees of the meeting was that although the quantity of food provided could be changed, the quality could not. One person mentioned that the food was "C/O the Dustbin" to much applause and synchronized head nodding. Another complained that the canteen teaman had laughed at him when he had pointed out severe deficiencies in the tea making process and had told him that he expected an improved product the next time. He was assured by the corporate services staff that next time there would be no such outburst of laughter.

Haleem

Apart from its signature dish biryani, the other Hyderabadi delicacy that I experienced was haleem. This thick and succulent concoction is widely available during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The meat and wheat treat is available everywhere from upscale restaurants to the local mosque at this time of the year. ARNABride candidates are free to practice cooking haleem at home, with the aid of this recipe provided by NDTVCooks:

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Haleem
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Ingredients:
250 gm mutton/lamb
1 cup wheat-soaked overnight, drained, pounded & husked
1 tsp chili powder 1/2 tsp turmeric 1 tbsp channa dal- soaked for 1/2 hour
1 tbsp moong dal-soaked for 1/2 hour
1 tbsp masoor dal-soaked for 1/2 hour
1 tsp coriander powder
2 onions-sliced and fried crisp
4 tbsp ghee
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
salt to taste

Method:
Take a heavy-bottomed vessel and heat 8 cups of water in it. When the
water starts boiling put in the drained dal, wheat and mutton along with
the ginger garlic paste, coriander powder, turmeric, red chili powder and
salt.

Cook over slow fire till the mutton is tender then mash the mutton.

To this mixture add the crushed fried onion. Heat the ghee and pour it
over the Haleem.

Sprinkle lemon-juice before serving - serve hot.

Hyderabad Happenings

Between Hyderabad and its sister city Secunderabad lies the man-made Hussain Sagar lake (or “God’s gift to Hyderabad” as the signage proclaims). In the center of the lake is an island containing a gigantic Buddha Statue, which is illuminated once darkness approaches. When the statue was initially being ferried to the island it sunk. A few years later it was rescued from the depths, perfectly intact. I took a pleasant boat ride to visit this monument.

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The Ganesh Chaturthi festival is celebrated with much aplomb in Hyderabad, with the bulk of the celebration centering on the lake where thousands of Ganesh idols are immersed. A substantial portion of the general population attends the event. After some strenuous, shouting, dancing, singing, powder spraying, and exploding of firecrackers, 3 or 4 men load the large idols onto a platform, which is then dropped into the water with the assistance a crane.

***

I feasted on a plethora of intriguing creatures such as rabbit, pigeon, and quail. These had to be ordered several days in advance, so that the restaurant owner/meat provider would have sufficient time to acquire the specimens from the “farm”. The tandoori rabbit was the most delicious of the bunch, followed closely by the pigeon. Arab-speaking companions found it humorous that Arnab (“rabbit” in Arabic) was eating rabbit. While a single rabbit can feed three grown men, it is advisable to order 2 pigeons per person as they do not contain much meat. Quail tastes like a combination of chicken and egg, which makes it quite a delicacy.

***

Due to my pending departure to Bangalore a few more farewell parties were held (9 in total). ARNABash (intern edition), ARNABash (coworker edition), Arnaberfest, and the Arnab Poker Challenge were attended by various luminaries. To illustrate the diversity of Satyam’s Crossover internship program, there were attendees from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Holland, India, Mexico, Poland, South Korea, Sudan, Sweden, Turkey, and UAE.

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Alas, I had to separate myself from my biryani and depart the City of Pearls, but my immediate destination was to be the City of Joy, rather than the City of Gardens. Due to some technical issues that delayed my transfer to Bangalore, I was granted a vacation to Kolkata while the matter was being settled.

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ARNABombshell Status: Boiling Hot! A suspected change in the weather patterns had made the female interns frosty. As news of my imminent exit from the local landscape reached the ears of the international ice princesses, their chilly disposition towards the Hyderabadi heartthrob melted away. Lunch, dinner, and other invitations were accepted by almost all. Full details will be revealed in the ARNABiography, to be published at a much later date.