Gauri Davidayal, mumbai’s well known and enthusiastic restaurateur, held a book launch for Chef Romy Gill from Britain. Romy, very energetic and knowledgeable, has written several cookbooks and been on TV and radio in the UK frequently. She says she prefers radio... “I need not fret about my appearance,” she laughed. She is now looking for- ward to opening another restaurant in the UK aimed at getting more recognition and ... a michelin star! For that, she said, the michelin judges look at the food, yes, but also much more, the cutlery, the toilets, the decor, the kitchens...
The launch was held at magazine St Kitchen, another of Gauri’s remarkable achievements. This is where a lot of her food is prepared, especially baked goods. There is a hiss of steam and heat is generated by hot ovens while the staff bustles along rapidly but calmly. We clambered up to a mezzanine floor to meet Romy and saw her cookbook: very colourful with ‘Bengal’s yellow and Punjab’s red’.
She is Punjabi but has spent her youth in Bengal’s tea gardens and thus is very familiar with Bengali food and their trademark: Panch Phoden spices. She spoke of her travels from Ladakh to Kashmir, learning their many, many recipes, before writing a book about their cuisine. Earlier she wrote about vegan food since it is loved by so many across the world. She spoke of the food her mother prepared for journeys: food which would stay fresh longer than 24 hours. ah, we sighed, as she told us about Punjabi karela with amchur eaten with parathas! Believing in both innovation and tradition, Romy offered us paneer pakodas. Now paneer can be deadly: hard, rubbery, tasteless bits floating around in something. Here it was milky and fresh with a good tasty batter. Then she served sweet potatoes and chutney and beetroot rolls with hot mustard.
Romy’s cookbook of interesting recipes made us think of the first cookbooks here that we know of: The Charaka Samhita (6th century CE) and Manasollassa (1129) with its five 5 parts (or rather 5 books) and its one hundred chapters!