Riding The Tide
The US endorsement of Pakistan's position on Kashmir bolsters Musharraf's fortunes even as anti-American outrage gathers steam.

Powell And Patience
President Bush's invitation to Vajpayee for a one-on-one in Washington next month makes up for the disappointment in New Delhi in the wake of Colin Powell's visit.

Autumn Of Turmoil
The Northern Alliance waits and watches the US moves in anticipation of a post-US-attack power struggle with the Taliban.
A look at the mood and the ground realities in Kabul.

SOCIETY AND TRENDS: FOOD HABITS

Living At The Table

	CHENNAI The Ajiths Our daughter decides where we'll eat-she makes us scan the papers for new hotels and fast-food joints. Corporate executive Ajith spends a day on the beach with wife Manjula, a newsreader, and daughter Aishwarya, who loves fast food.

These new aromas on the foodscape arise from the urban melting pot that metropolitan India has turned into. Parochial entrees are boring and fusion foods are in. The traditional south Indian idli has, for instance, incorporated cottage cheese and been rechristened paneer idli. Pizzas and paranthas mate, producing a tasty hybrid. For the calorie- paranoid, baked samosas called Hot Sams are on offer. The proliferation of multi-cuisine restaurants in the cities has got the middle-class Indian more adventurous with his garcon. The territories of taste have expanded much beyond Punjab's rich makhni dishes or Mughlai and Awadh cuisines. Mumbai's Crossword bookstore, for instance, reports that books detailing Kerala, Bengal and Coorg cuisine have the highest sales in the cookery section. Vegetarians, particularly, are being wooed by Gujarati and Rajasthani recipe experts. Cookbooks have come a long way from Veeraswamy and Madhur Jaffrey-they even pander to model chic and the finicky demands of the waist-conscious.

The middle-class Indian has begun to live dangerously at the table. The Chakrabortys of Kolkata, for instance, love to experiment. Lunch is usually authentic Bengali fare like rice with mudo ghanto, but dinner has a happy intercontinental mix such as a hot Hyderabadi mutton curry, fettucini and a herb-scented Mediterranean vegetable bake. Having lived in places as far flung as Jalpaiguri and Mumbai, the Chakrabortys' tastebuds love the challenge of new flavours. They also display a Yellow Pages-like knowledge of Kolkata's eating establishments, the multi-cuisine restaurants getting the popular vote. All six, spanning three generations, have varying preferences: Mihir, 65, and Shanu, 62, go for kebabs and continental, daughter Sona prefers cheesy Italian, while her husband Gautam is a biryani junkie. Their teenaged sons favour pizza, though tandoori is also a hot favourite. Not surprisingly, one of the survey's findings is that multi-cuisine eateries are becoming a winning formula by catering to differing tastes within a group. Prime examples: Chennai's Red E and Eatopia at Delhi's India Habitat Centre.

But an interesting development which emerges is that a Great Indian Dining Revolution is on. A culture which once equated freshly cooked home food with family values is getting more relaxed. The growing band of Indian executives-both men and women-with 16-hour work schedules-find that time is at a premium, and so is domestic help. Besides, the break up of large families and urban lifestyles leave no place for the traditional khansama (cook).

Eating out is not a mere convenience, it is also a social event, a way to bond. The new mantra integrates the family around food and is flexible enough to accommodate each member's taste. Children, along with adolescents, are the largest consumers of fast food. If the Chakraborty grandsons love pizza, the youngest Sawhney, two-year-old Rohan, swears by "chippie-Coca-burger" (French fries, cola and a burger), a combination he lisps with practised ease. Hausfrau Avni Mehta marvels at the change. The Gujarat-born Mumbaikar remembers the time when eating out meant dal makhni or oily noodles pretending an association with China. But her 10-year-old daughter Meghal, brought up on Mexican, Thai and Lebanese foods, wrinkles her nose at such predictable options. Of course, the neighbourhood pizzeria is also a happy destination for her.

	KOLKATA The Chakrabortys All six of us have differing tastes so dinner is a time for experimentation. The well-travelled Chakrabortys have come across many cultures and cuisines, which they weave into their daily meals.

Down under in Chennai, multinational executive M. Ajith's family has all the exuberance of the upwardly mobile. At six on a Saturday evening, after a day on the beach with pizzas and burgers, his six-year-old daughter is raring to go for more. Of course, the pizza is the ultimate mealtime karma-it is estimated that on a busy weekend over 80,000 pizzas are consumed in five Indian cities (the metros and Bangalore).

Another surprise thrown up by the survey is the growing acceptance of processed food. South Indian instant mixes and heat-and-eat pulaos are a boon to the harried young executive, an alternative to two-minute noodles. Bangalore-based MTR Foods may be the best-recognised brand in dosa and sambhar mixes, but readymade dals, bisibela bhath and puliyogare (both Kannada recipes) by companies like Orkay are taking a slice of the foods market. Venky's too has a mouth-watering variety, including ready-to-eat vegetarian and meat cutlets. Also popular are a range of pre-cooked Punjabi delicacies like dal makhni and masala channa marketed by Bukhara, which make for a sumptuous microwave meal. Says veteran food maestro Jiggs Kalra, who collaborated with MTR on their food mixes: "American style TV dinners are the future of the food business."

MetroScape

Looking Glass

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