Being at the heart of the food world can bring unexpected joy in the most unlikely of places. Of course, people chasing you into restrooms to ask you about baking dilemmas can be unsettling, but I love the way my passion in life gives me a mutual interest with some fascinating and savvy people – many of whom I meet while travelling.
I am always on the move, both around New Zealand and internationally, and every day I meet cooks and enthusiastic foodies who you would never imagine were so interested in food. Even the seemingly dour security guys who pat you down in customs show a flash of excitement when pondering the delights of a chocolate pavlova.
You’d think some of the passengers I meet would dismiss cooking as frivolous when compared to their jobs in brain surgery, astrophysics or trying to find a cure for cancer, but it’s been among these people that I have seen how much joy and delight food can bring.
It’s incredible how much can be gained from a conversation on a plane or bus.
Case in point: a young businessman on a plane told me his trick when trying out a new restaurant is to ask for the least popular dish on the menu. Yes, this adventurous chap has had some inedible selections – like duck tongues (think small bones and fat) – but he has also enjoyed some amazing vegetable dishes he would never have otherwise considered. He said the hit rate for a delicious option was about 50 per cent.
On another flight a corporate executive sitting next to me revealed his enthusiasm for Indian home cooking – which clearly brings him great satisfaction and delight. While he’s blessed with a wife who loves cooking, his favourite way to unwind is getting busy in the kitchen himself.
The fact that this businessman, Chandan Ohri, is a senior partner in a ‘Big 4’ accounting firm and an expert in technology and business consulting makes his story even more inspirational – he still ensures home cooking is a high priority.
His top tips for a delicious curry? Shallow-fry whole spices in oil to start your curry; use red onion for better flavour and less cooking time; add a dash of milk or cream if you have overdone the spices; and always garnish with fresh coriander for colour and aroma.
Another unexpected foodie encounter occurred recently when I was having a blood test. While phlebotomist Pamela Wiles expertly wielded a needle, I noticed her iPad with recipes on the screen and printed recipes by the test tubes. She revealed that browsing through recipes in her breaks gives her a joy that results in cooking for both her family and her co-workers.
As I recovered, she ran to the lunchroom and brought back a piece of cream sponge studded with fruit for me to try – the lightest, most beautiful sponge (made all the better because I had been fasting).
Pamela’s secret? Sift the dry ingredients three times before folding slowly and super gently through the mix. “My mother always said add an extra egg to the recipe, and the triple sifting really works,” Pamela told me.
These foodies are self-taught cooks, but not all foodies have the same skills and, for some, no matter how much they learn, cooking will never come easily.
When I travelled to America many moons ago I got chatting to the White House chef about the kitchen habits of then US President Ronald Reagan’s wife Nancy. When I asked this chef if she could cook, he lowered his eyes and very seriously said, “She wouldn’t know how to boil water.”
However, just because you can’t cook doesn’t mean you can’t have a passion for food. If, like Nancy, cooking isn’t your thing, buy component parts to create a great meal, and do pot-luck dinners.
And the thoughts I aired in the first food column I ever wrote more than two decades ago still stand – if I had the choice between bad company and great food or great company and bad food (especially when travelling on a plane). I would always go with the latter.
Photos: Getty Images
