Nearly two years ago, someone
forwards me this song of John Denver. Now as per Cupid’s law, one is ‘suppose’
to feel atleast a little romantic but as far as I remember, my memory lane took
me to the whiff of horse stables and their grassy poop ….. I guess, I was &
will always be in love with horses…
Of course, I didn’t tell her this.
She figured out herself!
Coming back to hotels, during my days
as a sommelier, I once did a mistake of trying to explain the notes of a wine
as a ‘nose of white chocolate’ to an American “Blonde”. Excited to hear the
word ‘chocolate’, she gulped down half a glass and said,
‘ Honey, there is no chocolate in
this wine……’
Well……Listening is one sense that she
clearly did not have…….
The world of Hotels for me is a
feast of five senses… you get aroused by new aromas every day, your eyes feast
on good looking people, you hear and are a part of new gossip every day, you
taste the most exquisite and sought after desires of the world (and that too
for free!) and feel so blessed when you get kicked in the nuts by your boss!! It’s like a daily dose
of protein.
So be it the smell of new money, enticing aromas
of tandoori chicken or pleasures from simply whining all day….. It’s all about
pleasing your senses which eventually makes you run & chase your dreams.
The sense of taste for me is perhaps the
most delusional.
If I were to make an F.A.Q list, this
question would top my
chart:
‘what really is authentic ? And if it is not authentic but it tastes good, does it really
matter?
Well, this is where the argument
begins…..
Find me a Chef who agrees that his
food wasn’t AUTHENTIC enough! They will go miles to certify that theirs is the
only ‘authentic way’ as their grandmother’s neighbour’s dog’s aunt made it the
same way and the rest of the world has learnt to cook at a petrol pump!
Try arguing further and a flying
knife comes your way……
Sometimes authentic is so foreign to our tastes that we can't get past its authenticity.
Chicken feet are simply too cartilaginous for most of us, donkey meat
sandwiches are just too weird and cubes of congealed pig's blood are downright off putting.
Yet they are all
authentic …..
But there are some people on this
planet who travel just for all this…Can you believe it- no Selfies, no
pictures with the Gucci Store! Travelling only for the love of food! Let me try
and explain,
People don’t just travel from one
part of the world to another to simply sit at a restaurant and eat. They do it
because they are in search of new sensations and experiences that might get
them excited. Many of us when trying a new place or cuisine don’t know what we
are looking for, however what we do know with certainty is what we don’t want
to find: context where nothing happens!
The great restaurateur, Nelson Wong
told me once, “Learn to tame & sharpen your senses and the world will eat
out of your hands”…
Well, Someday……..
