Think Global Act Local
Once a week, I visit the fish market along with my daughter to buy fish.Navi Mumbai being a port city has abundant supply of fresh fish. The locals in Navi Mumbai generally buy Bombil (Bombay Duck) as its part of their staple diet. The Bombay duck despite its name, not a duck but a lizardfish. It is native to the waters between Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and Kutch in the Arabian Sea, and a small number are also found in the Bay of Bengal. I have tried it once and I liked it. I was keen to try this in a restaurant. Very few restaurants serve this fish .However, I can get the regular Sear Fish, or Pomfret, easily in these restaurants . If we look around there are plenty of ingredients like the vegetables, fruits, seafood, meat products, pulses, spices ,condiments that are grown locally or locally available .Most Hotels and restaurants hardly use them in their menus. For instance, We need to think beyond the regular English Vegetables like the carrots, green peas,beans, cauliflower and potatoes. Hotels hesitate to use the locally grown vegetables like Cluster beans, Bottle Gourd, Beet Root, Bitter Gourd and so on. May be we cannot use them in International cuisine but definitely it can be used in the Indian Cuisine. Chefs need to think beyond Punjabi and Muglai Cuisine. Regional Cuisine can find a place in Buffets and Alacarte menus .Today, regional cuisine restaurants are successful everywhere. I frequently visit Diva Maharashtracha ,a stand alone restaurant in Mahim,Mumbai. This place serves authentic Maharshtrain Cuisine and does very well. In Mumbai ,there are very few authentic Maharashtrain restaurants. I have never come across an authentic Maharashtrian restaurant in a star hotel. Another restaurant I visit regularly is the Swati Snacks at Tardeo. This place serves traditional Gujrati and Maharashtrain Snacks. The restaurant is always full and many times I have waited for more than 30 minutes to find a table.There is a great demand for such restaurants which serves traditional authentic food .
The successful restaurants in the world have supported the local community. Chefs have worked with the local farmers to produce Organic Ingredients. This kind of initiative helps the local community and supports the economic development of the region. I have come across many Chefs who would like to import ingredients .Importing is not a bad idea unless it is an absolute necessity. Using locally available produce will help in bringing down carbon foot prints, reduction in food cost, support environment, development of community and offering fresh food to the customers.
I take my students of hotel management on study tour to ABC Cheese Farms in Pune. This place was started by Mr.Sohrab Chinoy and this cheese farm is synonymous with good cheese. Mr.Chinoy makes more than 60 varieties of cheese using their own cultures which is comparable to best in the world. Rather than importing cheese, sourcing out locally is cost effective and viable option.
Talking about wines Nasik is known as Wine Capital of India. Wines from Nasik are competing with global wines and the quality is good.
When I was in Bangalore working for Christ College, we use to consult for Cicada Resorts at Kabini. This resort is located inside the Nagarhole Wildlife Sanctuary. Sourcing out man power for this place was a challenge. People with urban background were not keen to relocate and work in this place. We had to recruit people from the local villages and train them. Spoken English was a problem as people studied in local vernacular schools. We trained them on basic hospitality etiquettes and simple English speaking skills as majority of customers were foreigners. We focussed our training on hospitality attitude than focussing on English as a language. This really worked. The guests feedback was encouraging. They liked the simplicity, genuineness and caring approach of the staff. While working on Menu for this resort, we planned the menu keeping in mind the locally available ingredients and their seasonality.
Today,India is competing with the rest of the world in all aspects of Hospitality. We just cannot import ingredients just because they are ‘exotic’. What is exotic to us is a locally available ingredient in other parts of the world. Example, Iceberg Lettuce is a local ingredient in the Western World and exotic ingredient in India. Many of these ‘exotic’ ingredients can be locally grown and cultivated. Besides utilising local ingredients & manpower,it is advantageous to use the available local products and services of the region. Thinking Globally and acting Locally is a perspective and a fine balance between the two can yield greater results.
