KARACHI: ‘Food is Great (Britain)’ and ‘Music is Great (Britain)’ were the clear messages at the British Food Festival-2015 as a chef and two musicians impressed guests with their individual skills on the British Deputy High Commission lawns here on Monday.

The chef, Christopher Ireland, from Leeds in the UK, has 20 years of experience in kitchen management with many international hotels and restaurants in both fine and casual dining. This was his first time in Pakistan and being a typical British he first said he liked the weather here followed by sharing his experience of tasting various cuisine at different Pakistani restaurants. “I enjoyed biryani,” he said during a live cooking demonstration.

He didn’t cook biryani though. The demonstration saw him making bread and butter pudding “as taught by grandmother”. Watching the clever chef go about his work buttering bread, mixing eggs, sugar with milk and cream as he tried memorising what all the ingredients were called in Urdu, one realised that British desserts may not be so different from traditional Pakistani desserts. Chris’s bread and butter pudding seemed a lot like our Shahi Tukray. His fried cod fish and chips were also something that everyone loved with the smoked salmon and baked potatoes followed by cheesecake.

John A. Tucknott MBE, British deputy high commissioner, said that in his two years here he had noticed how much food and hospitality mattered in Pakistan. “I’ve seen the lengths hosts go through to make their guests comfortable. The UK also prides itself for its food. Each region of the country has its own speciality with a history. Therefore we are holding the first-ever week-long food extravaganza starting now,” he said.

After two more days of the food festival at the Marriott Hotel here, the festivities would be moved to Marriott, Islamabad.

The festival includes a musical treat from Edinburgh-born musician Simon Thacker, who is a guitar soloist and composer besides being head of Classical Guitar at Edinburgh Napier University and Edinburgh College, who has also been nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award and won the 50th Park Lane Group Young Artists Awards. This is also his first time in Pakistan.

Simon was accompanied by Sarvar Sabri, an internationally renowned tabla player. The duo have performed extensively at the UK’s most prestigious venues and festivals, including the Cheltenham Music Festival and Glasgow Jazz Festival.

“The food festival marks the beginning of a series of culture activities for the year,” the British deputy high commissioner said.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2015

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