The world in our kitchen

FOOD CLUB

At the rate things are going, you don't need a crystal ball (Swarovski or otherwise) to forecast food trends for 2010. In a nutshell, surprising new cuisines will swamp our shores, to be followed by traditional food.

Take the last two years. 2004 saw a near-hysterical stampede for sushi and sashimi in the not-too-adventurous north. Soon, every restaurateur and his uncle procured stacks of koshihikari rice and nori sheets and hastily had their menus reprinted.

On the other hand, 2005 saw the rise and rise of Punjabi food. Soon, the only celebrities were Amritsari wedding caterers dishing out kulchas and vadiyan by the ton.

Fashion watchers know that every time hemlines go up, it's followed by them going down too. What goes up must come down, and not only in the fashion world. In the gastronomic world, exotic cuisines are followed by the local rendition of dal-chawal.

By 2010, India will have played host to most of the world's cuisines. While Indian-Chinese will continue to have its fan-following, gastronomes will stop talking about Chinese, and start referring to Shantung, Hunan or Huayian cuisines.

Xingiang stalls will be a common sight around the country. Thai food will have become regional: Isaan, South Thailand and Bangkok restaurants will offer regional specialities.

Because real estate will by then be priced out of the market, the day of the small food stall, a la South-east Asia, will have become a reality, even those selling the street food of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Hit and miss will eventually refine the formula to those dishes that are guaranteed to do well in India, with or without tweaking to the famous Indian palate.

However, with foreign travel getting more common, by 2010 the dining-out public will be able to point out authentic dishes from cobbled together sops with greater ease.

New Zealand haangi, hominy grits from the southern states of USA, Germany "" there'll scarcely be a place on the map that won't have its cuisine represented in the country. The only exceptions will be those countries that India finds infra dig. Thus, Ethiopian and Nigerian food won't find many takers.

Another thing that won't have many aficionados is regional Indian food. Not only will thalipith be an unknown quantity in Delhi, Guntur chillies or bedgi chillies will continue to evoke blank stares.

North Indian food will thrive, both inside and outside the country but it will be tempered down "" or up "" to suit the local palate. And in spite of the stiletto set demanding a fabulous Goan or Parsi place in Hyderabad or Chennai, no restaurateur will want to put their money where their mouth is.

Two things are certain: restaurateurs will keep hunting for the elusive formula for success, and chefs will keep leaving old restaurants to set up new ones, making consistency as crucial an issue as it is today.