Chef Ranveer Brar believes that in order to ensure that food does not go waste, we as consumers need to be less choosy of what we pick up. By Chahak Mittal
Ever wondered what it would be like to discover the behind the scenes of one of the biggest supermarkets chainsIJ Ever been curious to know what food these supermarkets have to offerIJ Ever tried experimenting with different food ingredients but couldn’t come up with a spectacular dishIJ Well, it seems like your questions have set the course to find its answers on Sony BBC Earth’s upcoming anthology series, Secrets behind Food, curated by Chef Ranveer Brar. The series include three shows, Supermarket Secrets, Food Factory Supersized and Food Detectives.
“The show is not just about making food or discussing new recipes, it is about understanding the concepts of food beyond cooking,” says Ranveer.
As our country opens its gates to cultures and trends, outsiders can have a peek into what makes our food unique as well as the diversity within our geographical boundaries. “When India got independence, food was fixed in political boundaries defined by states. So there was food from Rajasthan or food from Gujarat and so on,” says Ranveer and goes on to add, “However, now the case is that political boundaries don’t really determine what we are eating. People are aware of regional nuances, of cultural identities and from the last five to seven years, the states are becoming smaller as new lines have been drawn around certain cultural and historical regions whether it is the division of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, or Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh or even Jharkhand and Bihar. The new lines are being drawn with a cultural mindset and not with a political mindset.”
Ranveer talks about the shrinking regional boundaries and believes that now the food is getting further sub divided. “Once we start taking pride in our cultures, our preferences also get tuned towards that. This is reflected in our food as well. For example, in Kathiawadi cuisine, no one talks about Gujarati food anymore. The reference points are food from Ahmedabad or Rajkot. Similarly, Maharashtrian food is further sub divided into Marathawada food and Saurashtrian food. We now talk about regional food more than the food from a particular state. Hence, we are now a much more culturally and regionally-aware society, and that is why the boundaries are getting smaller,” says Ranveer.
Ranveer isn’t only a great chef but is also conscientious about issues like food wastage and he had a lot to say about food rescuing and how people almost misunderstand the concept. “There are two parts to food rescuing and these are very important to understand. Firstly, food wastage, that is, the food that gets cooked and then gets wasted, food that comes to the supermarkets and from the markets it gets wasted,” he says. “However, there is another part which we don’t talk about, called food loss, where it is wasted even before it comes to the supermarket or the kitchens,” says Ranveer. In India we lose 30-35 per cent of food even before it reaches our kitchens, because of a poor supply chain, bad storage, and poor cultivation practices. Hence, the food wastage in the country is huge, huge means mammoth,” he adds.
As we talk about food rescuing and food wastage, he further explains a phenomenon with the example, “We are still a very conservative society. Hum log ghar pe bhi khaane ko bacha ke rakhte hai. But when we go to the supermarket to pick up our supplies, we set high standards. We bypass anything that has so much as a single scar. This food too goes to waste.”
He explains, “Do you know what happens to that spotted appleIJ It gets rejected all the way and there is no demand for it. We want perfect-looking food. Now for that, all the imperfect looking food gets thrown out. We as consumers need to the stop looking for assembly-line perfection in ingredients and food. Just like we come in all shapes and sizes, nature creates other things too all colours, shapes and sizes,” says Ranveer.
Ranveer who would choose Indian spices over American ingredients anytime, believes that a strong understanding of food is important more than making the food.