Breakfast at Sephi and Shefi Bergerson's place weighs no less than a three-course meal.
Just as we’re seated cosily in photographer Sephi and his artist wife Shefi Bergerson’s charming little terrace garden, hunger strikes Sephi hard. Perhaps it’s more to do with the fact that we’re having pancakes with mango and ice-cream for breakfast — and not just any pancakes, these are going to be eggless — and, even better, made of wheat rather than flour. Shefi gets busy with the mix while Sephi takes care of the custom-made cold coffee — all set to delight us on a cloudy, breezy morning.
“Life is a vacation,” they declare, and describe how they landed in India from Tel Aviv, Israel, seven years ago. “We considered moving to many countries, changing our plan every two weeks. India, surprisingly stuck on till the time we were finally ready to move, and so we came here,” says Shefi.
Continuing his work here as an advertising and freelance photographer, it took some time before Sephi could establish himself firmly enough to sustain the family in a new country. It was a hard beginning, they both admit matter-of-factly. Shefi, meanwhile, being a designer-artist, dabbled in various things — mosaic work for one, a gorgeous example of which is the breakfast table.
But it’s been a while since things have picked up, and while Shefi toys with the idea of starting a mosaic-designing workshop, Sephi is busy with two new publications, compilations of his work. Early next year, his book on street food in India will be in the market — a delightfully colourful portrayal of little eats from the lanes of our big and small cities that are so reminiscent of childhood days — thanda Rooh Afza to piping hot masala chai, oil-dripping chola-bhaturas to juicy, shockingly orange jalebis — it’s a mouth-watering feast for the eyes.
His other book, also due out next year, takes you on a behind-the-scenes journey of the grand Indian wedding. At the London Book Fair, Sephi puts in, people found it difficult to believe this was for real. Most recently, Sephi has worked on restaurateur Ritu Dalmia’s book Italian Khana. He shot all the food in just one day.
At home, however, the Bergerson mantra is simple: to keep it simple. “People think one needs to go overboard to make a good meal. But the simplest food is the tastiest!” Shefi says. “That’s why we hardly eat out. The food at home is so good,” she laughs.
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If it’s not Shefi’s hot-from-the-oven pizzas and cinnamon buns or Sephi’s creamy pastas, it’s Asha, their help at home, whose cooking they love. The couple has worked on a project together, compiling Asha’s recipes which they hope to publish.
By the time we’re ready to dig into our breakfast, Sephi is done with his share — and one bite later, I know I had done well not to refuse ice-cream early in the morning. Chuckling, Sephi laments about the “decline of dasheris” given that summer is just about passing, but langda doesn’t make for a bad replacement at all.
One can also use strawberries, blueberries and bananas, says Shefi, adding that at one point of time it worked the other way around — Sephi’s pastas did the wooing for him — and she was duly charmed. Life has come full circle.
FAVOURITE RECIPE
EGGLESS WHEAT PANCAKES WITH MANGO AND ICE-CREAM
1½ cup wheat
1 tsp vanilla sugar mix (you can make it by grinding a vanilla stick with brown sugar)
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups milk
½ tsp oil
½ lit vanilla ice-cream
1 kg mangoes
In a bowl, mix wheat, baking powder and sugar. Pour in the milk. Grind to a thick, smooth consistency in the mixie. Spread the oil in a pan on the flame. Once the pan is hot, spread the mix on three sides to make three pancakes in oval shapes. Flip the pancake only once. On a plate, place one pancake. Layer it with small pieces of mango. Place another pancake on it. Layer it with more mango pieces. Top it with two or three dollops of ice-cream and serve.