What do you get when a celebrated cuisineexpert and a finalist on Australia’s most prestigious cooking show, team up tovisit the kitchens of India? What you get is insight from the land down underon the flavours of the continent.
Carol Selva Rajah, one of Australia’s mostcelebrated experts in Asian cuisine, comes from the school of trial and errorand many impromptu dinners that she would have to put together at the drop of ahat. Hence spawned her philosophy affirming that, “If you cook food from theheart, there can be no greater gift you can give to your family and friends.”An integral part of this belief is that according to her, ‘feeding the mind isjust as important as feeding the body.’
Her decision to work with formerconstruction worker Beau Cook was primarily at the suggestion of food criticand Masterchef Australia judge Matt Preston. Having interacted with Beau on theshow, he decided that he would be the ideal candidate for the job at hand.
Their joint project titled ‘Eating with theEyes’ sees the established Selva Rajah team up with the relatively unknown Cookwith the aim of presenting a show that sees Beau literally plunged into thedeep end of the world of Indian cuisine. With no stops at fancy restaurants orhotels, the programme aims to capture the essence of a typical world kitchen.“This very brief trip has been absolutely inspirational. The way Indian food isserved in Australia is nothing like the homely cuisine we’ve been introduced toon this trip. We’re normally used to seeing meat chucked into three day oldsauce and re-cooked, but this food has been delectable,” he says with a hint ofamazement.
But this is the very essence that the showaims to capture. The highlight of the trip was the time, when having found nosatisfactory place to test culinary waters, the duo was invited to the house oftheir guide. “It was another world for Beau. He was grilled as to whether hehad bathed and eaten only vegetarian cuisine before he was allowed to enter theprayer room,” adds Carol with a chuckle.
Cook states with awe that “It was anabsolutely eye opening experience. It was heart-warming to see how receptivethey were to absolute strangers. And through the experience, I learnt thatthere’s a whole new window to the culinary world in this magical place. I can’twait to return.”
