We need to teach specialised culinary skills to students, says Chef Manjit Gill

Well-known and founder-president of the Indian Federation of Culinary Associations Chef Manjit Gill feels that education in culinary skills should be imparted to students. He even suggested that children should be allowed to mess with the cooking and connect emotionally with the food they eat. "We all have to understand our food first. We have to communicate with our food. We must have a proper understanding of the goodness of our food. This is very important," Gill, who is also the chairman of the World Cultural Culinary Heritage Committee (Worldchefs), told IANS in an interview.

Gill is currently busy with the preparations of the World Heritage Cuisine Summit & Food Festival 2018 being held at the historic Gobindgarh Fort in Amritsar from October 12 to 14. In the summit, chefs from 40 countries are expected to participate. He said that Indian food is culturally rich even though there has been little effort to get it into a "structured and scientific" format.

"In India, we don't have education on culinary skills. So far, we have only hotel management institutes where everything about the hospitality industry is taught. For the first time now, we have set up the Indian Culinary Institute (in Noida near Delhi) to teach specialised culinary skills to students," Gill, who is the Food Consultant for the ITC Hotels and board member of the Institute of Hotel Management (Pusa), said.

"We do not have proper textbooks to teach about our Indian food. There is no terminology for Indian food. Our institutes are teaching only Westernised food. For example, no one even teaches you how to make a basic thing like "paneer" (cottage cheese) in a scientific and structured way," he pointed out.

Gill, who has been in the food business for over 40 years, said: "India is in transition. We can say that it is still struggling to get a good ethnic restaurant. Our food is based on the principle of wellness and sustainability. We have to understand this. Every region has a different flavour and local food is very important. The concept of seasonal food, which is emphasised in all regions in the country, is important as it is based on centuries of experience of what food is required in what season."