Cooks and Books

All this hype over Jaswant Singh’s book and his expulsion from the BJP has diverted attention from an event of no less national importance. In a little reported case in the capital city of Kerala, chef Maya Nambiar has been relieved of her duties as deputy head chef at noted 5 star hotel, North Park. The ostensible reason: her new cook book in which she calls the tomato a vegetable.

According to head chef, M.O. Han, and we quote “The situation is ridiculous. We can’t have senior party members (Nambiar was in charge of birthday parties) incapable of differentiating between a fruit and a vegetable. Especially when it’s something like a tomato, which is clearly a fruit. Ridiculous, I say. Now, if it were a pumpkin, I agree. There is some ambiguity. But a tomato? This cant be tolerated”

When contacted over the controversy, Chef Nambiar had this to say “He has obviously not read my book. Nowhere have I called the tomato a vegetable. It is true that in the recipe for Channa Masala, I may have listed tomato under the heading 'required vegetables', but this is entirely different from calling it so directly.”

However, Han does not relent. On the contrary, he has called for a state-wide ban on Nambiar’s book. When reminded that five years back, he had himself called the peanut a nut, Han pales but recovers. Where is the evidence?, he asks , while simultaneously patting his stomach on the sly and winking twice. Obviously, he is nut a man to be messed with.