Indian flavour snacks for Commonwealth Games menu

As Delhi gears up for the Commonwealth Games 2010, in the list of other things players can now be assured of healthy snack-breaks with Indian flavour at the stadia.

For the biggest sporting extravaganza in the country, the underlying flavour seems to be Indian with caterers spreading out an array of regional cuisines in their elaborate menu.

With extensive varieties of kathi kabab rolls, sandwiches, puffs, pizzas and cookies, caterers are planning to ensure the taste sensitivities of athletes and their family members and still not lose the Indian touch.

"It does not make any sense, if athletes come to India and do not taste Indian food. That is why, respecting the varied taste buds of athletes from diverse nationalities, our team plans to provide them a flavour of India," says Raman Mehra, CEO, Graviss Hospitality, the company that won the contract to cater to all the lounges at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, the main venue for the Delhi Games.

The caterers are also planning to ensure no refreshment item is repeated in the week's duration.

"We have planned a totally cyclical menu. Every time, we will serve something new from the vast Indian platter," highlights Mehra, who has tied up with Seasons catering for ground work.

The lounges at the games venues are classified for athletes, technical team, media personnel, Games' family as well as for the VIPs. The catering for these lounges has been divided into total of eight clusters. Two clusters have been awarded to Graviss Hospitality for Rs 5.94 crore.

While IRCTC has bagged the contract for Rs1.70 crore for 1 cluster, remaining 5 have been awarded to Seven Seas for Rs6.29 crore.

Confident of delivering a good show, the caterers say they are banking upon the Indian culinary expertise to strike a balance between taste sensitivities of the foreign athletes and the exotic Indian flavour.

"We have chefs from 5-star hotels on our payrolls.

They specialise in serving multi-cuisines. We do not need to hire foreign chefs to match international standards. Everything is available in India now," says Sumit Kapoor, General Manager, Seven Seas. The company would cater to the lounges at Indira Gandhi stadium, Thyagaraj stadium, Dhyan Chand stadium, Siri Fort and RK Khanna stadium.

A source in IRCTC informed only the chefs with 5 years of experience are being involved in catering to the lounges at stadiums like Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Talkatora.

Showing a discontent with the delay in the announcement of tenders, the caterers are working head over heels to keep up the standards. "We have to work from 8 am to way past midnight to cope up with the pressure. Though, the Organising Committee is now being very supportive," informs Kapoor.

Sanjeev Mittal, in-charge of catering at the Commonwealth Games 2010, however, ensures that all the related jobs would finish on time. The caterers for opening ceremony of the games will be given an access to the stadia by September 23rd, onwards.