Like any art form, the foundation of Indian cooking is based on technique. There is a body of knowledge about the food itself - the vegetables, the spices, the herbs, the curries but this information is meaningless unless applied with sensitivity.
Over the length and breadth of India, in the different homes in India, of the rich and the poor, one comes across a wide range of flavours, styles and tastes. Many styles of cooking seen in different parts of the world can also be found in one or the other part of India. In India one sees society, culture, language, food and people change dramatically as one goes from North to South or East to West.
With the entry of Europeans into India, many exotic ingredients entered the Indian kitchen. Potatoes, chillies, tomatoes and cheeses came into India and were used generously. Jams, jellies, yeast raised breads, pastries and casseroles were prepared with hints of Indian spices. Chillies, potatoes and tomatoes found much love in India and have become staples of the Indian kitchen.
The French cuisine has a great influence on the Indian hospitality industry in the way of the service of the dishes to the guest’s. The French cuisine was having 17, 15 and 13 course menus. This has now a day reduced to only 4 to 5 courses. Now a day these 13 courses are reduced to 4 or 5 courses but a strict menu planning rules are followed while planning any meal based on the French course.
In India only a thali system was prevalent in most of the restaurant or there habit of taking only one main dish and with it roties or parathas or chapaties or rice as the wish of the guest’s at a time as a whole meal with limited accompaniments such as pickle, papad and chatani. But today in most of the well known restaurants or in restaurants of star hotels the lunch or dinner starts by hors d’ oeuvres followed by soup, main course, salad, , and finally dessert. And different courses have different accompaniments. In French cuisine great emphasis is laid on the presentation of the dishes and garnishes and accompaniments, which makes the dish colourful.
The menu is word originally relate to the French cuisine is now adopted by the Indian cuisine. Traditionally there are 2 types of preparing a menu card those are table d’ hote and a la carte. The menu card is now prepared in such a way which is based on the table d’ hote style and providing sufficient number of dishes to choose by the guest’s as it is in the a al carte menu planning. The French cuisine has given the table set-up to the Indian hospitality industry, which was not part of the traditional Indian hospitality. The spoons and fork are the gift of the French cuisine to the Indian hospitality industry. Today most type of restaurants are keen to serve the guest’s in the most appropriate manner. The type of serving is getting deeper and deeper in the Indian hospitality industry. It has become the prominent thing where the food and beverage managers give their most attention.
The French cuisine has given the Indian cuisine the wine and champagne. These are the gifts of the French cuisine to the Indian hospitality industry. In French cuisine wine is used for cooking to enhance the taste and to give an unusual flavour and this is a unique feature of the French cuisine. There is an appropriate wine for preparing each dish. And also there is an appropriate wine to be served with each course as an accompaniment. Grape aperitifs, which are drunk before the meal and not between meal and digestifs, are drunk after the meal is over. The dry rose wine is a best accompaniment of the starter course. Like this there are different wines, which accompany different courses. In India also the production of wine and champagne has been started but the quantity and quality of the production is not comparable to the wine and champagne produced in the France. As well as the French cuisine has given different types of cocktails and mocktails to the Indian hospitality industry.
The French cuisine has some distinctive spices and herbs, which gives a unique flavour, taste and originality to the dishes. Some of these are parsley, celery, basil, tarragon, thyme, rosemary, chives, shallots, allspice, bayleaf, paprika, pepper, nutmeg etc. Some of these spices and herbs are produced in India and some of them are imported for making their use in the food preparation. Asparagus, artichokes, carrots, turnips, aubergines, broccoli, swedem, seakale, cardoon, brussels, sprouts, topinambow, mushrooms etc are some of the continental vegetables, which are used, in the French cuisine. Some of these are grown here and the remaining are imported for the use in the kitchen. The different types of cuts of vegetables, meat, poultry and fish are influenced the Indian cuisine which are basically from the French cuisine.
Cheese is also a gift of the French cuisine to the Indian hospitality industry. Cheese in the French cuisine used for base of the dish, garnish to soups, blended with sauces or grated and sprinkled on top of the dishes and gratinated. And also as a part of the 13 course menu. Cheese now a day also used in the preparation Indian dishes. But the use of cheese as a part of course has not yet started in the restaurants where French cuisine is served. Butter, olive oil or salad oil is also used in Indian dishes as a cooking medium, which are basically the French cooking medium. As the cheese: sandwich, pastries and pastas are also came from the French cuisine to the Indian cuisine.
The French cuisine also has an influence on the Indian hospitality industry in the way the modern day marriage functions, birthday parties and other different functions arrangement is concern. In most of the functions welcome drink is served to the guests then the starters then the soup then the main course and at the end it is the dessert, which is served to the guests. The sitting banquet parties, room service, hospital service and buffet service in India are the influence of the French cuisine on the Indian hospitality industry.
In conclusion I would like to mention here that as the days are passing by and because of the need of satisfying the foreign travellers in India as well as the changing eating habits of the Indian population the French cuisine is facing too many changes in the form of preparing the French dishes with Indian herbs and spices in India without damaging the classical value of each dish as the chef Raji Jallepalli who is preparing a "Franco-Indian" dishes which are popular in her Memphis based restaurant. As well as the Indian cuisine is also changing its look and appearance in the form of garnishing and accompaniments served with Indian dishes based on the French cuisine. In India also the chefs are changing the flavour of the French dishes to suite the taste of the Indian guests. The influence of the French cuisine on the type of service is influencing the other service sectors in India. The French empire has a great influence on Indian city Pondicherry because they ruled on this city for more than 100 years and because of which this city can be called as a city of France, which is situated in India.
References: -
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Arora K., (2002), Theory of Cookery, Frank Bros & co (Publishers) Ltd, New Delhi.
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Kinton C. (2002), Theory of Catering, Hodder & Stoughton, London.
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Lillicrap D. R. and cousins. J. A., (1996), Food and Beverages Service, Hodder and Stoughton, 4th edition, London.
Influence of French Cuisine on Indian
Hospitality Industry
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COURSE: BA (IHM) 1ST YEAR
2ND SEMESTER
INSTITUTE FOR TECHNOLOTY AND MANAGEMENT
KHARGHAR
INSTITUTE FOR HOTEL MANAGEMENT AND CARERING TECHNOLOGY AND APPLIED NUTRITION
