Canned food

It is well known that Indians love their food and even the most cosmopolitan of them long for desi cuisine after a few days abroad. So you can imagine the anticipation of the Indian delegation at the Cannes Lions festival when it was told that a spread of rajma, chholey, aloo-gobi and many varieties of kebab was waiting after a hard day's discussion on the future of global advertising. But when the Indian contingent trooped into the "India" party, there was more hard work to be done. Most had to stretch their ingenuity to distinguish between the rajma, chholey and the aloo-gobi, even though these are everyday dishes in north Indian homes. The mystery had to do with the fact that the meal was, quite inexplicably, produced by a French chef. As one of the delegates put it, "It was like making sense of German advertising."