In a bid to save Goan cuisine, the Goan Culinary Club is making waves, while they judiciously taste their way into the authenticity
The way to man’s (and with equality of the sexes, a woman’s)heart is through the stomach. Yet, with the loss of authenticity of Goancuisine in quite a few restaurants, a case of heartburn is more likely. Imaginelooking forward to a delicious mouthful of Xacuti all day, driving to yourrestaurant of choice, only to find your dish replaced by something that isreminiscent of Kadai chicken. With the introduction of the Goan Culinary Clubthough, there may be far less to fear from ordering local cuisine.
The Goan Culinary Club was founded as a non- profitorganisation in Arrosim – Goa on the 3rd of March, 2012. Founded by Joe andOdette Mascarenhas who handle the Goan chapter, the organisation was basicallyfounded as an initiative to save the authenticity of Goan food and to provideand create a common platform for chefs to come on board with their take on Goancuisine. Besides that, the club also aims to preserve and promote Goan cuisine,to encourage restaurants in Goa and the world over to serve authentic Goancuisine, to encourage Goan communities to come together and discuss cuisine andinvite local women to showcase their innovative interpretation of what might beconsidered classic.
The club hosts a variety of tasting in differentrestaurants. There is a stringent process for the tastings as well, where thechefs as well as the judges taste the dish in question until it is shortlistedto two dishes. Odette Mascarenhas says, “We are not stopping regional cuisine,however, we would like to do away with the misconception that Goan cuisine istedious to make. We also want to encourage the youth to take an interest inGoan cuisine and replicate authentic Goan food.”
What surprised the judges more than anything else is thefact that there were so many variations of one dish. Every chef had their owndefinition of recheiado, crab xec xec, and prawn currys, which goes to showthat while there may be regional differences in taste, the authenticity isfading fast as well.
It is perhaps therefore not an unreasonable hope, that theendeavours of the Goan Culinary Club bear fruit.
