'Food, a crucial tool for building cultural synergies'

Eminent food experts from India and Egypt gathered here for a roundtable and discussed how food connects people from different countries and makes them understand more about different cultures.
The Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC) of the Embassy of India in Cairo organised the roundtable yesterday on 'Culinary Identities: Building Cultural Synergies through Food'.
Food experts shared their views on the topic and discussed how food has become an important tool to unlock the mystery behind many social and cultural occurrences.
Ashraf Gamal, Editor in Chief, Chefs Corner Magazine and MD, Egyptian Chefs Association said that food connects people from different culture together.

"Food is central for our life, we cannot live without food. It connects people and bring them together as it makes them know more and understand each other, Gamal said.
Noha Kaval Nin, Restaurateur, Karvin Hotel spoke about her experience in running an Indian restaurant in Cairo.

"Indians and Egyptians are very close in family and food habitsthis is what made it easy for me to blend Indian with Egyptian recipes in some dishes, said Noha, an Egyptian whose late husband was an Indian.
Together with her husband Noha started an Indian food restaurant 14 years ago.
During the discussion, Moustafa El Rafaey, Restaurateur, Owner of Zooba said there are some food which people refer as Egyptian but it is not originally Egyptian, like Koshary, which came to Egypt from the Indian recipe khichri, made from rice and lentils.

It is considered one of the first solid foods that babies eat.
"In Egypt, we took the koshary and we egyptionzed it. I think if you look at the roots of the food you eat you will find a connection with different culture of different country, she said.
"There are also lots of Egyptian food but there is no good marketing for them, he added.
During the roundtable, India's Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya said food has two important aspects; food for bonding and food as innovation.
"For us in many ways food is life but at the same time it also has to be art and also in many ways its a bonding, the Ambassador added.

The discussion also explored the potential of food tourism with particular emphasis on local food and culture to ensure sustainability.
India and Egypt, home to two of the oldest civilizations in the world, have a rich tradition and culture of food, where many tales in the common folklore is centered on food.
The speakers also mentioned that representation of food in the world of social sciences including arts and humanities is not just limited to food itself but has a complex linkage to the whole narration of memories, experiences, stories, mythical tales, of the evolution of concepts like status, gender, aesthetics, culture, ethics, formation of identities, strengthening of people-to-people relationships on the basis of the common love for food and a plethora of such interlinked social subjects.

The roundtable is the 17th edition of the monthly series of 'MACIC Roundtable', a monthly seminar series involving youth, academicians, culture lovers, civil society on issues of mutual interest to India and Egypt.