Friday, November 24, 2006 |
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| Deccan Herald » In City Today » Detailed Story |
| Iskcon adds Vaishnava touch to global cuisine |
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| Madhumitha B |
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Click here for pix |
| The food dished out will be in line with Bangalore's growing taste for global cuisine. |
Get ready to feast on global cusine the Iskcon way with their latest offering of restaurants in India. The food dished out will be in line with Bangalore's growing taste for global cuisine. Whether Italian food with pasta or lasagne, Turkish cuisine with golzame, mango cheese pie, a variety of Indian delicacies... the restaurant will cater to the varying taste demands with a touch of what they call the Vaishnava style of cooking. Chitranga Chaitanya Das, popularly called C C Das, Programme Director and head of the food initiatives at Iskcon explains, “This type of food will not include onion and garlic in the recipe, yet have food that is in demand and popular these days. Italian or Mediterranean food is predominantly non-vegetarian and but we are experimenting with these dishes to suit our style of cooking and make it truly vegetarian.”
Called Higher Taste, the restaurant in Bangalore at the Iskcon premises is slotted to open to public in mid February, 2007 and soon after in Jaipur. The idea behind this venture is to further support their Akshaya Patra project of providing mid-day meals to underprivileged children in government schools. “We have support from the government and private donations that help us make the mid-day meal project a possibility everyday but income from these restaurants will strengthen out internal resources and enable smooth streamlining of our requirements,” says Usha Radhakrishnan of Iskcon.
Through Akshaya Patra, that began in 2000, Iskcon reaches out to 1,50,000 students in Bangalore everyday and they hope to cover 2,50,000 children in the near future. Another Akshaya Patra centre in Kanakapura Road is in the pipeline.
 Taking up this challenge is India's popular cookery author Tarla Dalal who was in town recently to help Iskcon plan out a menu. “Creating food without onion or garlic and still ensuring that the two ingredients aren't missed is indeed a challenge but I have had fun experimenting and we do have a few recipes ready,” she says.
Apart from several appetisers and main course dishes, there will be available hot beverages with a concoction of several spices and health essentials that make it a wholesome drink. A juice bar will also be thrown open with Tarla Dalal's delightful range of mocktails.
According to C C Das, food is an essential part of any event in Iskcon. It's what they call the Kitchen Religion. “No satsang, bhajan or discourse is complete without a good meal that's followed after. With our restaurant we are trying to send a message across through food. A message of making a difference in society by helping those who need our support. We aren't food giants but we can assure food aficionados of an experience of food at a whole new level of taste.”
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/nov242006/citytoday1851520061123.asp |
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