This is the time for the sun to shine, at its brightest.
Maybe a spectacular sight to admire in a photograph. But if you are out in
public forced to endure the extreme heat it is certainly not an experience one
would enjoy. Yesterday it was 31 degrees with 80 percent humidity. That can be
very uncomfortable. Now a large percentage of Goa’s hospitality industry
comprises restaurants that are largely based outdoors. The food may be
certainly varied and tasty but then how are the restaurants ensuring their
patrons do not experience any physical discomfort in these hot conditions.
The responses from restaurateurs were varied and
interesting. Joshua Proenca who has a restaurant in Calangute smiled and said
that the heat was a problem he was not familiar with. Joshua said, “We have the
blessing of the breeze that comes in from the sea. We don’t even need the fan.
This explains why all the old landlords had houses on the beach. It is better
to be here than sitting at home. It is very nice here. The summer is the best
time because of the breeze on the beach”. Well…. lucky for him but that could
seem like a one off.
For others the facilities offered by modern day technology
are used to fight this problem. Sangeeta Pradhan who runs a restaurant in
Chapora said they battled the problem with air coolers and refreshing coolers
like mocktails, soul kadi, kokum sherbet and other drinks. Her restaurants gave
patrons the option to either inside or sit outside. She said unsurprisingly
people preferred sitting inside. That was the sad reality.
In situations like this the kind of cuisine one partakes is
also important. Hossein Haghighatgoo who runs a restaurant that serves Iranian
food that is located on Caranzalem beach said they had fans in the restaurant
but patrons preferred to sit outside because they were on the beach and the
breeze was very refreshing. It was great for business, he said.
Some used nature to fight nature. Rohit Gorowala who runs a
restaurant in Porvorim said they had plants around the villa which would make
it visually comfortable to sit there. The menu was also kept simple and the
drinks that were served were done with the intention of keeping the body
temperature down. The food, he said, was North Indian which was heavy and was
spicy. No one he said complained about the food but the externals had to be
tackled to ensure everyone felt cool and comfortable.
One of the restaurateurs, Monty Bagchi is taking steps to
fight the heat. He runs a restaurant in Vagator. He said they were considering
bringing fans with water sprinklers. The problem however was that this could
lead to an increase in humidity in the area. The front of his restaurant would
be wet. He said, “Food from Lucknow is heaty. It is spicy fare, no one
complains about the heat in the food. But we have to deal with the external
heat”.
As the years pass, it is becoming very obvious that
temperatures are rising. The steps that will have to be taken by restaurateurs
may have to get more elaborate or chefs may even have to experiment with the
food and ensure it is not as spicy as it was in days gone by. There is after
all a limit to what a body can tackle.
The days and years ahead will be an interesting one.
