Name three people alive or dead, who you would like to have dinner with? I will actually choose 8, lively and the most interesting people in Mumbai city. Thanks to a little foodie meet organized by Burrp Mumbai and Out of The Blue I had the perfect evening earlier this month. A table full of delicious food, surrounded by 8 bright, food encyclopedias, that evening just kept getting better and better with each course. There were talks of the food, the lovely Desi Fondue, which someone commented, tasted a tad like Dal Makhani with all the spices. And there were talks of great chefs, their recipes and achievements alternated with handing out the delicious pieces of ham, chicken and grilled vegetables between the two exquisite fondues.
Everyone had their take on Reality Food Shows, from Masterchef India, UK, Australia and TopChef to Gordon Ramsay and his cocky ways. Each one was strongly opinionated, eloquent and knowledgeable. From Food Books to Travel talk, that evening was the greatest, most exciting Food Class that I’ve ever had. It was amazing to learn about different opinions, what excites people about food and the way it is presented on television. Even better to share those little instances of ‘I thought I was the only one who thought Gordon Ramsay’s brash behavior was over-played on American TV shows!’.
Let me tell you about each one of our Twitter Foodie present from the Mumbai Brigade that evening. To make this simpler, I am going to refer to all of us as elements of a salad.
Let’s start with our host, @Kunalailani7 from Out of The Blue. Like the Lettuce, Kunal was playing the composed host who was bringing the whole party together in many ways. He was sitting on one side just listening, smiling and absorbing all the excitement of us foodies that evening. He ordered stuffed, fried mushrooms. I am not a big fan of this dish and honestly, trying a cold piece out in the end after all the great food, did not help its cause.
@TheBigBhookad is how I like to see all foodies. Like a tomato, the tanginess of sarcasm with the sweetness of humour and the firm support of great knowledge of food and the city that brings it all together in his head. He talks because he knows, as his eyes twinkle behind those thick-framed glasses. He ordered a large, four meat sizzler, if I remember correctly. I tried it and thought in comparison with other main dishes at the table, this dish was not that great.
@TheBlackSakura is most definitely the olive in our salad. Her intricate observation and clear description of what goes right and wrong with food, along with the concentrated flavor of her information on cuisines and ingredients gives her this defining character, like the olive. Incidentally, she ordered the same dish as I did, pork with sage with mashed potatoes. The meat was delicate, subtly flavored, a gorgeous main dish.
@ScrollnInk , her writing is what defines her in the real sense. She is the Cucumber of the salad, composed and calmly expressing with clarity of thought. Her use of the language in expressing food is very impressive. I missed the soup course because I had arrived a little later!
@BellyFirstTweet is the spicy bell pepper! With spicy tweets and all the great photographs of food she clicked that evening. Short and spicy comments with the gift of food illustration! She ordered the lamb shanks and was generous enough to give me an entire shank, which I loved. It was crispy on the outside, the tender sweetness of meat inside.
@Foodchants, from Burrp Mumbai, the second of our hosts who brought this idea together, mayonnaise dressing of the group, really bringing it all together. The rich flavor of writing, creativity combining food with work that evening, she really doubled well! She ordered a fish main dish, the sauce was too rich and needed some tang to cut the richness, which was missing.
@desh, the crispy herbed crouton of the group, adding the crunchy to our salad! Desh has literally traveled around this desh. His description of every food experience, as he traveled around makes him an amazing conversationalist and an interesting company for a great dinner. He ordered the grilled rawas with lemon butter that evening, and who can go wrong with that dish really!
@Caramelwings, she is really the caramelized chicken wing bits in that salad. She is peppy, crunchy and full of smart punches and one-liners. Her great attitude added the texture and intense flavor to the Mumbai food brigade. She ordered the pork sizzler that evening which has faded in my memory now.
@foodtryingstein, well, I don’t want it to seem like I am blowing my own trumpet, but I would really like to be the fragrant basil in the salad, simply because I was smelling like one since I had just finished cooking a batch of spaghetti arabiatta before that long and bumpy rickshaw ride to powai for my pork and sage. Well, you can’t deny it when the stomach growls! So that says it all, my account of that evening, the question’s answered. I will dine with those that love, savour and know their food. Those that live to eat!
