The big fat film festival has reached Goa’s shores as
it invariably does, come rain or shine, bringing in its wake the teeming
multitudes. It’s still not quite Cannes. The devil’s don’t wear Prada, the red
carpet is not awash by the swish of the best designed wardrobes, and there is
very little excitement, not even wardrobe malfunctions. The showstoppers are
not Camaron Diaz, Jessica Alba or Scarlett Johanson. Even their body doubles
don’t have dates to come to Goa for this. Tch Tch. Nor do the desi Canne
wallahs Ash, Bips and Dips-Deepika silly- waste time coming here for this
little something of a festival. Of course the Slum dog millionaire type stars
do turn up to light lamps, which is perhaps a perfect fit for the profile of
this carnival which is so not Goa.
But with most of the “business” happening outside of
the theatres, one would have hoped that Goa would hold its head high and get at
least its food mix right. We hear that there was a compulsion to make the
gourmet offerings very upscale and hence a firman was issued from the royal
court of the tourism department to have a very well curated food event to get the best of chefs, cooking and brands for
us, the plebeians.
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Thus a food village called the Palate International
Food Village has sprung up. We will leave how they were picked and put here, aside,
since this is not about the curators who we are sure are good enough to have
India’s best brands to feed us. This is about the search for Goa in these
sylvan surroundings and coming up short.
Let’s check the Palate pitch. “The gourmet event
offers visitors the opportunity to sample culinary offerings and specialties
from a host of leading culinary brands from across the country located along
the river Mandovi. We have interesting brands like Olive Bar, Chaayos, Giani
and Fat Lulu’s among others who have travelled to Goa to cater to the palates
of a discerning audience in the state”
But wait a minute. Isn’t this about showing Goa to the
rest of the world and getting food from our kitchens, showcased for the world
or at least India, which comes here. Palate can go anywhere and find a
discerning audience. But this festival is all about offering Goa to visitors or
else this could be as well be in Gurgaon.
But there are claims about the Goan element here
though. Palate boasts of Thalassa, in
its village, which is by the way a Greek restaurant. Would you call an Udipi
restaurant in London, a British joint? The other ‘Goan’ claim, La Brise is a
part of a five start chain and is not
down to earth Goan. Mum’s Kitchen for instance is, and it’s down the road. But
perhaps Mum’s Kitchen refused to shell out 45000 bucks a day to be here for
three days because that’s what stall owners are paying to Palate who in turn
are paying the Entertainment Society of Goa. So we now know who is really being
fed. There was more comment emerging from Palate to the tune of Goan brands
taking time buy into the kind of events Palate does because of lack of
exposure. This is Delhi snobbery at its best.
The point is that Goan brands do not need to come
under this umbrella. If the ESG wants to showcase more of Goa, then it needs to
encourage home brands or even the
straight from the home kitchen to table concept and get women (and men too)
from the interior villages of Goa to come with their spices and spirit and
operate out of a typical Goan village recreated. The aroma of curries and
cafreal gulped with gallons of urrack and feni and with feet moving to konkani
songs would be an absolute delight for those who cascade down to our land
during his time. Perhaps Palate needs this exposure rather than Goans need
exposure to Palate.
Let’s remember that in our effort to reclaim this
land, its heritage, its culture and its glory, we here need to reclaim the
cuisine which was Goa’s leitmotif. Allowing this to be sacrificed at the altar
of pure business and branding is in bad taste. Let the Palate’s of the world
come and learn to be a guest in an environment which is otherwise Goan. And it
is the responsibility of the Entertainment Society of Goa to get more Goa into
its system if it wants to be relevant.
