Masala in your pasta?

Indian chefs are capable of creating authentic Italian meals. But across the country, diners prefer food with a local, saucy, spicy twist

- VIR SANGHVI

It was having lunch at the café at Delhi's Italian Cultural Centre that got me thinking. The café is part of the Cultural Centre, which itself is part of the Italian embassy. So its daily clientele is about 60 per cent Italians and 40 per cent other nationalities, of which, Indians are the highest number as you would expect.

The Italians come for the food, which is authentic and reasonably priced. I have even heard it described as the best casual Italian cuisine in Delhi.

Though you can hear Italian spoken all around you (by the guests) nobody speaks Italian in the kitchen. All of the staff-servers, cooks, pantry-workers etc-are Indians. Most of them have never ever been to Italy. Very few (if any) even went to catering college. Some started out at the very bottom of the kitchen hierarchy; many can barely speak English.

So here's my question: if these guys can turn out food that is so authentic that even Italians flock to eat it, why is so much of the Italian food in India so bad?

The more I thought about it, the more clear it seemed to be. It is hard to get authentic Italian food in India not because it is difficult to cook. It is because Indians don't really want authentic Italian food. They want to eat Indian-Italian. The restaurants serve what the market desires. The chefs don't bother to learn to make the real thing.