As we get accustomed to eating out for entertainment rather than nourishment, there are things that draw our eyes to the little touches that we don’t have the patience to replicate at home.
We could possibly get the main dish right with a bit of elbow grease, but how many of us would be able to make a mood-setting art display featuring butter, ice, vegetables or stretch polystyrene (Thermacol)?
Increasingly in the hotel industry, artistry extends to unusual levels not just in food production but also in its presentation. “Carving is only an add-on skill, but it creates a nice ambience to a meal,” says C. Parthiban, lecturer at the State Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Thuvakudi.
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Says the man thought to have introduced Tiruchi to the art of carving after he joined the SIHMCT in 1992, the skill cannot be picked up with theoretical instruction alone. “It has to be done in a separate space, and needs a calm state of mind,” he says.
Carving is not merely about assembling figures from different materials, but about creating a realistic-looking object from scratch, preferably from a single piece of raw material. “There are many varieties of carving, but I always start teaching with soaps,” says Mr. Parthiban. “It is stable to work with, and great for practising. Once students gain confidence, they can shift to other materials. Even though carving is a part of the syllabus, it cannot be learned without the student’s own imagination and interest,” says Mr. Parthiban who had worked as a chef in a leading five-star hotel group in Chennai and a US-based cruise liner, specialising in salads, cold meats and carving in ice, butter and vegetables for around a decade before starting his teaching career.
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Vegetable carving is the most popular form of the art in Tiruchi’s high-end eateries and it is not surprising to note that the >chefs we contacted for this article were introduced to food production and presentation by the Thuvakudi institute.“I’ve taught at least 3,000 students in my 28-year career here,” says Mohan Kumar, who, like Mr. Parthiban, is an alumnus of the Institute of Hotel Management, Chennai. “The children come here as raw hands, mostly from rural backgrounds. Most of our students today are shining in the field, working in shipping and air catering or as hoteliers.”
His usual workplace is the three-decade-old basic training kitchen where first-year students are introduced to the culinary processes. “It takes us at least 15 days to teach the students about the various ingredients and food groups,” he says.
What follows next is an operation of near-surgical precision as the two instructors put together an impromptu arrangement of carved vegetables in the kitchen.
A bowl of cold water is kept handy as Mr. Parthiban starts by twisting flowers out from the sharpened ends of carrots and drops them in. Mr. Mohan Kumar finely chops lettuce leaves to vermicelli-thin strands, while colleague Leo Lawrence expertly shaves the top peel of a tomato to be shaped into a rose. “The vegetable should be at least a day old for carving,” says Mr. Parthiban, expertly cutting layers of petals into a beetroot. As for the equipment, anything that works with the material will do, he says, admitting that he prefers to work with a carpenter’s chisel gifted to him by a Thai chef.
Another bowl of water is brought in, and Mr. Mohan Kumar mixes a pinch of yellow food colouring (bajji powder) and drops in two delicately carved potato blossoms. “The end product should look natural,” he says, slicing carrots into thin ‘leaves’ after marking them lengthways with small serrations. The trimmings end up in the stock pot to be transformed into soup broth.
The finale is a virtuoso display – the varied elements coming together in a sort of ‘fancy dress’ tableau for vegetables.
Changing tastes
The SIHMCT, jointly sponsored by the Central and State governments since 1992, comes under the National Council of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, and is affiliated to the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).
It was formerly known as the Food Craft Institute and since its establishment in 1981, played a major role in encouraging children in the villages of the Cauvery delta region to apply for its one-year diploma courses in various vocational disciplines.
Its transformation into a degree-offering institute has seen a slight shift in its student demographic as well. “Our fee structure (Rs.45,000 per semester) tends to keep away many local students, but this is a course that prepares you for a life-long career in the hospitality industry,” says R. Singaravelan, principal.
On the anvil are a microbiology lab to study the shelf life of products made by the institute’s on-campus five kitchens, three restaurants and a bakery.
“We’d like to emerge as the first choice for hotel management and catering students,” says Mr. Singaravelan.