Hindustan Times
Samosas for strategic affairs
Let the samosa in China and the dumpling in India be the instruments of strategy when leaders sit down to what is often a secretly dreaded bilateral banquet.
The Indians and Chinese express raptures over each other’s national cuisine, but do they really relish what either serves at bilateral banquets? Isn’t the art of diplomacy about making your visiting neighbours feel at home and relax their guard?The Obamas pulled off banquet diplomacy just right by including the flavours of India in the State dinner served to Indians in the White House last week. The Indians must have wondered why it took so long for someone to notice how the non-proliferation of chutney and curries or just the simple samosa at official dinners in global capitals can leave vegetarian Indian leaders famished after even eight-course banquets.
Delegation after Indian delegation that visits Beijing is known to politely pass over meaty Chinese courses, pick at boiled vegetables, and wait weakly for the fruits at the finale, while privately pining for a samosa. Most Chinese don’t like basmati rice and are too polite to tell us whether they stomach the curries. When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his ministers stay at the five-star China World Hotel in Beijing, their meals are discreetly sent from the Taj Pavilion, an Indian restaurant in a little corner of the ground floor. When India hosts formal dinners in hotels in Beijing, officials ensure that the hotel venue permits them to smuggle curries and pulao for the buffet alongside the cold salads and desserts. The China Daily put out a curious report coinciding with the lavish State dinner in Washington. ‘Hu sets an example with simple dinner,’ the official newspaper said, referring to the State banquet for Barack Obama on his first visit to China. The Chinese served the US President a cold dish, chicken soup with beancurd, Chinese beefsteak, sauteed wild rice shoots and asparagus and roast sea grouper.
PS: On a personal note, when I was new to Beijing, I remember delightedly ordering ‘stir-fried vegetables’ from a Cantonese menu during my first formal dinner in a restaurant. I was jolted by the biting chill and famished from living on fruit plates in an utterly boring hotel near the railway station. My mind started conjuring the heady aromas of a real warm meal with assorted vegetables with a hint of sauce that could be mixed with rice. The stir-fry proved to be a few florets of boiled brocolli. I didn’t know what to do with the sticky white rice in a little bowl without gravy to go with it so I ignored it. After that dinner, I fled to Starbucks and wolfed down a hot chocolate and tomato-cheese sandwich worth the equivalent of Rs 500.
The next morning, I happened to go to the Indian Embassy (an excellent source of samosas) for the first time and had my first cup of chai since I had landed bewildered in Beijing. It was served by a Chinese man who understood what the first cup of Indian chai in China means to a first-time Indian visitor. He got me a second cup before I could ask.
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Loading ...Posted by Reshma Patil on Sunday, November 29, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Filed under China · Tagged bilateral banquets, China, dumpling, India, Manmohan Singh, samosa, strategy, Taj Pavilion, White House
What about those ultra-trendy restaurants that are combining the two cuisines? What about Singaporean food?
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Most Chinese still think India is a Buddhist country, after Buddhism faded in India how long ago? 1000 years?
And every Chinese knows Buddhists don’t eat meat. So it doesn’t make sense to serve meat to India guests.
I heard Shao Lin temple has become a capitalist enterprise promoting tourism and performance even overseas. The temple should have good vegetarian chefs for the tourists. The Chinese government may consider bring them to Beijing when they host banquets for India guests.
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@Wang
Incorrect. Buddhists are not vegetarians. They do not kill. If teh animal dies accidently or is killed by someone else, Buddhists do not refuse the meat. Even the Dalai Lama is a meat-eater.
On the other hand, Jains are strict vegetarians and a little more.
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