Around the world

Eat your heart out this Sunday for the annual Oberoi Melting Pot that will bring together the culinary traditions of 23 countries with cuisines from goulash to satays, falafel to pasta, tea to vodka and sangria to wines and more, is going to shrink the world — food-wise at least.

Executive chef Joy Bhattacharya is eagerly awaiting the show and it must be no mean feat to be at the helm of it all. “It's certainly diverse,” he smiles, “Ingredients are flown in by various countries wherever required to ensure authenticity. The food apart, the aim is to showcases cultures while also collecting funds for worthy causes.”

Julie Chin, of the consulate of Singapore, gives a peek into her stall. “Singapore, whose population is made up of Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian, so we have chosen dishes that reflect the multi-faceted Singapore. There will be a vegetarian fried spring roll — originally Chinese. The Singapore version uses a South-East Asian tuber that gives it a delightful crunch, the fried radish cake that Singaporeans eat as breakfast, lunch, snack or as a starter to any meal and the roti jala with mutton curry and vegetable sambal — which is part-Indian and part-Malay, but you cannot find it in India.”

Walter Stechel, consul general of Germany, looks forward to the evening. “There are few forums in Mumbai where the cultural expressions — and the cuisine of a country is nothing but a cultural expression — of a large number of countries stand side by side as they do here. This is exactly the conducive environment for tasting and comparing, exchanging views and sampling not only of food but of cultural diversity,” he says.