A session on Vegan Cheese wit Neelima Sriram... The Conscious Market!

When I got invited by a blogger friend to a session on Vegan Cheese wit Neelima Sriram, I was quite curious.. I have heard of vegan food and cheese, but had no clues how it worked.. As in what did they make the cheese from, what did it taste like and why were all these different diets taking over the world [am talking about Vegan, Keto, paleo and the works...]... 

This event was part of the The Conscious Market which is on 26th & 27th at Express Avenue Mall! There was a special vegan buffet at E hotel, and stalls at the atrium in Express avenue mall. 

So, there I was with few others who had been invited sitting around a table waiting for the event to start. I did walk around the large table at the end that was piled with different fruits, olives, crackers and the bowls and platters of cheese [ each with a different label]. While they all looked like dips and creamy cheese varieties, I was still puzzled about the taste. 

It was then that Neelima started explaining the concept of Vegan cheese and how the variations were made. So the base for this cheese is cashew and other nuts, sometimes even fruits or vegetables are used. It was quite an interesting experience. Even though the cheese are all creamy and quite nice, they arent really a substitute for regular cheese, nor can you fool someone into thinking they were.

Being vegan is all about switching your lifestyle, no dairy, ergo no animal based products!While some switch to this lifestyle for health reasons, others are for the whole "I care about animals and so will not have anything made from them"... 

Take a look at the cheese platter and different cheeses we had... The one cheese that we did not get to taste, but I got a sneak taste of later on is the yellow in[ in the 1st picture], it was made with cashew cheese as base and blended with carrots and pumpkin. It was delicious, but felt more like a dip than a cheese. Hmmm.. i guess like everything else it is all about controlling the mind and giving new things a chance! 

The Diabetic Trail, Flying Elephant, Park Hyatt, Chennai [till Nov 30th]

If you were among those who thought healthy food was boring food, then here is a surprise for you.. Park Hyatt has launched a Diabetes Food Trail at Flying Elephant (this started on the 14th Nov and goes on till the 30th Nov)

Conceptualised and presented by Semora Entertainment Works; this unique initiative has been supported by Britannia NutriChoice,and that is where the trail begins!!

The food trail features 120+ Top Restaurants, whose Chefs have designed a special diabetic- friendly menu, just for people with diabetes.  At Park Hyatt, Chef Greg and Chef Vamsi have come together in creating this menu that is not only healthy but filled with amazing flavours as well. No, am not exaggerating or lying.. After having got the opportunity to taste the dishes that are part of the menu I can say with conviction it is anything but bland...  What is more, the calorie content is mentioned against each of the dishes  on the menu, giving you insight into what you are eating! 

Another interesting trend am noticing is that the veg food seems to shine brighter over the non veg dishes.. :-) 

Some of the dishes I tasted last evening was,

Turkish Lentil and burgle soup, chickpeas, dried mint and coriander (131 calories)

Quinoa and pomegranate  salad, orange slices, spinach, zucchini, celery with passion fruit dressing (131 calories)

For the mains, which were mouth wateringly yummy,

Brown rice congee, stir fried greens [bok choy, broccoli as well], shiitake mushrooms, ginger, spring onions, and sauteed garlic on top. I could happily just dig into a big bowl of this and be the happiest bunny around.. :) (232 Calories)

Whole wheat pizza, thinnest base, ricotta cheese, parsley, sumac, rocket, apple  and quinoa as well- the base was super thin and it was just WOW... (294 calories )

Braised lentils,poached egg, steamed swiss char, onion escabeche, parsley pesto (252 calories)

While the non veg gang dug into the steamed Chilean seabags fish and the rice with chicken side, I eagerly waited for the desserts [ which are a slight variation from the diabetes trail, but healthy nevertheless]

The Desserts we dug into were, 

Lemon cheesecake mousse with berry compote served alongside two slices of fresh papaya (342 calories ) and Peanut butter frozen yoghurt cups, oats, granola and pomegranate.. [ Doc advices that no matter what dessert we have, it should be partnered with a fresh fruit]

Ah, what an evening it had been... So, if you are looking for a restaurant to have some delicious  food and keep it healthy, this is where you should head to..A lot of the dishes reminded of the Salad festival they held few months ago..

Address

Park Hyatt

39, Velachery Road, Guindy, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600032
044 7177 1234

URL: http://chennai.park.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html

Disclaimer: The reviews posted on this blog are based on my personal experience. Also remember these were just my views!! Remember, no two palates are the same. Bon Appétit :-)

Share and Learn - The 1st session at Azzuri Bay

An evening with a difference is how I would describe last evening. We were a whole bunch of foodies packed into a room, but we were not there to eat or sample any dishes. It was going to be an evening of learning and sharing. The new initiative from CFG aptly titled "Share and Learn" had its 1st session at Azzuri Bay last evening. 

[Image courtesy: Chennaifoodguide.in]

A small group of about 25-30 members were present, apart from the 3 presenters and the one hour dedicated to the presentations flew in a jiffy. After a brief tug of war with the TV, and with not one or two but 5 guys pouring over the computer and TV, they gave up and decided to use the laptop to show the presentations while the ladies spoke. 

The theme for the day was : 

What you eat matters... Making the dish look good matters and 

Understanding what you eat/drink matters... 

Opening the evening was Smriti Kirubanandan . With a degree in engineering, she is a long distance runner, yoga practitioner and someone who believes in Raw Food concept. She spoke about the three categories- Raw Vegan, Raw vegetarian and Raw meat, and her life since she switched from normal diet to Raw Vegan. It was interesting and insightful to say the least, and I wondered if I had half the amount of conviction she did to make the leap.  She was not preachy, not advocating that people switch over, but spoke about the positives of such a diet. It was an eye opener of sorts and we all wondered how easy it was to follow this diet in India. She did mention it was easier in the western world, but it was not impossible here, especially since we had quite a few Organic products available out in the market. 

Positives of this diet:

1.High levels of energy

2.No weight issues

3. Better digestion

4. No skin or digestion problems

5. Overall health and fitness maintained.

She did mention that she had begun incorporating a small cup of regular food. There are times when she is out and has no choice but to eat some normal food, and to avoid her body reacting strongly, she has begun making it a part of her daily regime. 

Smoothies, salads, fruits, shakes, nuts, almond milk, sprouted grains are what you can eat if you follow this diet. And if you are a Raw vegetarian, you can include raw milk and raw diary product as well.

You can read about her here or follow the facebook page  

Phew... Imagine living on bananas and papayas? Anyways, breaking into my thought, Sanjeeta K Kumar took over the stage and began talking about Food Styling & Photographer. I have interacted with her at multiple occasions and kinda knew what she did. Her forte are creating rustic images.

I enjoy photography but have never been able to take a good shot of food items. Listening to her talk about the impact of light, props, colour or material of the plates, cutlery used, the rule of the 3rd gave me quite an insight into what to do or not to do. She showed off a few of her photographs, emphasising on how it is best to keep it simple and make sure the food item is the hero of the dish. Not only emphasizing s she a great photographer, she cooks/bakes amazingly well as well. Last weekend, she brought us brownies and cake at the Chennai Blogger meet and they were both divine! She also told us how most of the ad copy photos we see are taken not with the original food item but with something else that is made to look like food. For ex, potato mash for ice cream, red tar for tomato sauce and so on. 

Eeks.. we wondered how many photographs we had oggled at where such products...hehe... Finally, taking stage was our very own Avanthi Vissa the woman behind Bellaria and co-partner at Froyo Factory. A sensory scientist from Kraft, Avanthi took us through the concept of tasting, how our senses react, and the elaborate processes they followed for Oreo sandwiches when they had to make a change in the flavour or texture. She spoke in length about how our human brain perceives food, flavours and how we react differently. It was a moment where many of us thought back to how the same thing tasted different at different occasions. It depends on our mood, health, mental state and surrounding factors as well. When we have a cold, we cant taste things- well, this is only partly true she says. Our tongue can identify only 4 basic tastes- sweet, salty, sour and bitter. The rest of it all comes from our nose. She said "take a spoon of honey, taste with your nose closed and once with it open,.. the results will be different". I am definitely going to try this asap. :) 

Before we knew it, Q&A session drew to a halt and we moved over to the room next door for a quick [ya right, who am I conning] group photo before heading upstairs for dinner.................... the fun continues