Caprese Salad in Lord Krishna's land….

“Should we order a plate of caprese salad to start with?” asked my wife, when we went to a local Italian restaurant for dinner, and placed the order when the waiter came forward with a smile. Soon after the waiter left, both of us started talking about this dish that we had in a restaurant in Vienna market place, when we went there on a vacation almost five years back. We talked about the quaint restaurant with seating places outside, under colorful awnings next to the cobblestoned pathway in the busy market place. More we talked about the caprese salad that we had; full of vine-ripe tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella cheese, quite mouthful chunks sprinkled with olive oil; more we reminisced about our tour and started building up our appetite, eagerly waiting for the dish to arrive.

And when the dish came to the table, it was complete damp on our expectation with only three pieces of tomato and cheese on quite a large plate compared to the food on it, garnished with a small piece of sundried tomato – a ridiculous sight. The cheese was a rubbery pellet on top of the over-ripe tomatoes layered with some no-name oil. The most important ingredient of a caprese salad dish is the mozzarella cheese. And the one served was no way comparable to the fresh and moist ones that we had in Vienna, the taste of which still lingers in our mind and mouth.

When we brought our discontentment to the notice of the waiter, the answer was “we do not get real mozzarella cheese in India and the imported ones are pretty expensive” putting the blame as usual on a grander issue, which no one can reach. It was a real surprise to hear that in the land of Lord Krishna where milk and milk products flow in the name of Operation Flood and we call it a white revolution here. Also our land is swamped with quite a number of mythological stories narrating childhood banters of Lord Krishna around butter, buttermilk and cheese. And I believe, we have at least the same number of cows and buffaloes in this vast country, if not more compared to that in Europe. Maybe we do not know how to make good quality mozzarella cheese or we in India have not developed a taste for the same and I am not sure whether Lord Krishna ever tried. Better we start learning how to make high quality mozzarella cheese so that gourmets like me who love to try cuisines from all over the world, especially mouth savoring ones like caprese salad, can relish, here in our own country.