Experiential Cooking is so new, Google hasn’t discovered it yet. Inspired from Experiential Learning and based on Curt Knox's belief that ‘Experience is not what happens to a man, but what a man does with what happens to him, Experiential Cooking is all about cooking from experience.
Take a moment to look back; usually your deepest memories are of those moments that you have experienced firsthand. Your school days: the craft that your teacher picked out to be displayed on the class wall or the science experiment that went bust (the match would not light!) are embedded in your memory because you lived those experiences and are emotionally connected to them. Somewhere deep down they moulded your personality and are responsible for the way you are. Growing up, the people you met and chose to interact with are those with whom you shared unique experiences. These became significant moments in your life.
Experiential Cooking is about creating these moments and memories through food. We all know food as something to fuel our bodies, stave off hunger or quell boredom. At times it is to celebrate an occasion or socialize. Rarely do we think of it as an intensely emotional experience which requires all our senses to partake. Indian Cuisine is ideal for this style of learning as it incorporates the cultural elements that make up this vast and diverse country.
In India, cooking is considered an art and mothers sit their daughters on their knees and pass down family recipes by show-and-tell. I remember spending my summer vacations in my grandparent’s home in North India. Somewhere at the back of my mind I can recall my grand mom’s instructions to the Maharajan (Hindi for Chief Cook) telling her the appropriate spice for a daal or the ‘correct’ process for smoking up the biryani. Sometimes, it would be a dietary deviation to concoct a homemade remedy to fight off flatulence or any other ailment. At that time I dismissed it for, well, old wives tales. But in these days of organic and natural cures and scientifically supported studies, it seems all important.
WHAT IS 'CURRY FLAVORS' ALL ABOUT? It is about immersing oneself in an environment in which fun and flavors interact; an afternoon wherein a short recipe is shared along with a demonstration of the tricks -of-the-trade, interspersed with small cultural tidbits, and punctuated with spicy anecdotes. That done, we all sit down in an ambient setting to savor our creation.
'Curry Flavors' launched in Houston in November 2011 and there will be on-going Show and Tell sessions. It drew an enthusiastic response and based on the feedback, I am proud to say, it went down well (pun intended) with the participants
