A private chef would reportedly accompany the wealthy Indian cricket team to Australia to comply with their explicit demands for no spicy foods at the hosts' Test venues this summer.
With their chef slaving in their hotel to prepare their favourite cuisine away from Test days, India's cricketers have issued a list of food requirements to grounds from the Gabba to the SCG. The Test action would be hot in the middle but India insists they want no spice in the dressing room.
Only mild curries such as butter chicken are on India's list of nutritional requirements, with the explicit instruction of no spicy foods written in large, red letters on their list of food demands, News.com.au reported.
The tourists have also issued Test venue caterers with pages of hygiene instructions, many of which are simply common sense, to avoid their millionaire cricketers like skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli getting sick.
India's elite cricketers are not ready to hear of having any food germs and they have ordered that hot dishes must be served at more than 60 degrees Celsius, and cold food below five degrees Celsius, and detailed a long list of food hygiene requirements.
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The document states that all utensils should look clean and have no food or anything else visible, adding that all staff must wash their hands thoroughly with warm, soapy water.
The list of demands also states that utensils must be sanitized in a dishwasher at high heat and must be dried before use, with air drying the best method.
India's list of nutritional requirements isn't as extensive as when England was in Australia last summer and wanted their dressing room to resemble a Michelin Star restaurant for the Ashes.
They simply insist there must be no spicy or fried foods. And they also say that no beef or pork related products should be used in cooking or food preparation, given their high number of vegetarian cricketers.
The Indians have requested an all-day venue menu including chicken, roast lamb, smoked salmon, low-fat cheese and snacks such as raw nuts, muffins, energy bars and cookies.
The breakfast waiting for them when they arrive at Tests grounds should feature scrambled and poached eggs, grilled mushrooms, baked beans, yoghurt and whole fruits, where as lunch must include grilled chicken and fish, butter chicken (mild), steamed rice, subzi (dry vegetable curry) and steamed vegetables.
The document also states that any foods not on the list must be approved by team management before they are provided to athletes.
