Want an Idli for 2017?

Imagine Idlis that can last forever. Wistful, but this sizzling idea could become a reality if the latest advances in food technology in the US are anything to go by.

In fact, long lasting food has been termed one of the 10 great ideas that are changing our lives. The signs of food posterity are already there. In 2002, the US Department of Defense Combat Feeding Directorate made the ideal sandwich with a filling of barbecued chicken and glycerol and sorbitol to absorb the water. It was then wrapped in a packet with chemicals which removed oxygen and put in polypropylene and foil.

Nasa recently reported making a bread pudding which could last four years, while the Pentagon made cake that can stay spongy for five years. No, it wasn’t the wine suffused Christmas cake that lasts a whole year even in the hands of the most ordinary cook.

Cut to desi food. Can Indian food with its generous doses of oil and spices be palatable after years? “Why not,” asks Darly Thomas , head of technology transfer and business development at the Mysore-based Central Food Technological Research Institute. “Though it hasn’t been tried, it’s possible to do so chemically. Besides, if it can be done in the West, why can’t we?”Be it Indian or continental food, what’s important is to see that the water content is reduced, microbe activity is nil and packaging material air-tight.

The signs are already there. McCain Foods India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of McCain Foods Canada which specializes in frozen French fries and potato products, even launched an India specific product this month – McCain Idli Sambar Combo Pack. MTR, which has been supplying to the army, and ITC, too, are upgrading to cater to the Indian palate.

Credit: http://canasiantimes.com/index.php/want-an-idli-for-2017/

Idli & Dosa-Making Machines on board INS Vikramaditya.

                                                                                

Even as aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, formerly Admiral Gorshkov, is getting ready for pre-induction trials, it has seen the successful demonstration of a product that is exclusively Indian.

For, a group of engineers from Eskay Enterprises, Bangalore, has installed six dosa-making machines and three idli-making machines on board INS Vikramaditya and just returned from Arkhangelsk region in Russia where the ship was docked. It will help serve traditional Indian delicacies to the Indian crew once the ship is commissioned.

The automated dosa and idli making technology was developed by Mysore-based Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) and Eskay Enterprises is one of the licensees authorised to manufacture the automated machines.

The automated technology will enable assembly-line production of 400 dosas and 1,000 idlis an hour on each machine and will cater to the nearly 2,000 crew members who will be on board the ship. Eight wet grinders have also been installed for grinding rice and other ingredients for batter.

The technology was developed by the CFTRI in 1998 and since then has proved to be popular in major industries where catering for a large workforce requires mass production. The machines have been so designed that they take care of all operations pertaining to making a dosa such as spreading batter to the requisite size, oiling, cooking and even dispensing curry and chutney. The automated technology also ensures that hygienic norms are observed in the kitchen as it obviates manual labour during mass production of idlis and dosas of uniform taste.

Credit:  http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/karnataka/article3501663.ece

MNCs can’t make Indians abandon Idli, Dosa or Chapathi.

Thai, Chinese, Mughlai, Continental…there has indeed been a cultural invasion into Indian menu in restaurants and hotels but when it comes to eating at home, Indians still like to have Idli, dosa, chappathi, vada.

This is what the three post graduate students of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, who won the ‘Become Indra’s Advisor Contest’ had to tell PepsiCo. The 200-odd teams who participated in the national contest were given the topic, ‘Transforming breakfast for Indian consumers’ centered around the company’s Quaker Oats and Tropicana juice brands.

The winning team of Indradeep Das, Sunitha Subramaniam and Sameep Mendiratta got the rare opportunity to spend time with Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo, Chairman in New York and present their creative views on the Indian breakfast market.

The team told PepsiCo that oats, cornflakes are alien to Indian diet so is juice for breakfast when tea and coffee are more preferred. Packaged breakfast for morning should take into account lack of time for the working class and existing food habits that die hard.

Can the invasion of PepsiCo, Nestle, Britannia or Coco Cola change the ingrained food habits of Indians? The cornflakes example shows it isn’t that easy.

Credit: http://www.commodityonline.com/news/mncs-cant-make-indians-abandon-idli-dosa-or-chapathi-48194-3-48195.html

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/85403689@N00/3086651712

Here come the sons: the return of the Beatles?

It is the secret fantasy of every Beatle obsessive: what would you get if you put the scions of the greatest group ever in a recording studio together? It’s like a musical science experiment, mixing the creative DNA of John, Paul, George and Ringo to see how much is nature, how much nurture, and how much nepotism? What would a Next Generation Beatles sound like?

The Beatles can never reform, but perhaps they can continue as a family business: Beatles & Sons.
 They all look a bit like their musical parents, although you also have to factor in Yoko, Linda, Olivia and Maureen, which is possibly not quite such a compelling line up.

Sean Lennon (now 36) has been the most musically interesting of the Beatle boys, in ways his father would certainly approve of, creating whimsical experimental rock, sometimes with his mother, Yoko Ono, and sometimes with his own Japanese girlfriend, Yuka Honda. His vocal tone is very close to John’s, his instincts are for the avant garde, but there is no sign in his work of any of his father’s populist flair or driving anger.

James McCartney has been a bit of slow developer. He has played guitar on a couple of his father’s solo albums, and released a couple of pleasant EPS that reference Sixties beat music, although more the kind of jangly rock of the Byrds and Searchers than the muscular pop of the Beatles. Never likely to challenge his dad as a pop pin-up: he looks like a slightly plumper, sadder and balder ginger Paul. But his old fashioned guitar group tastes and melodic sensibility could combine well with the more experimental instincts of Sean.

Dhani Harrison (33) looks and sounds a lot like George, contributed guitar to some of his father’s solo work, and played with a couple of decent bands (thenewno2s and Fistful of Mercy) where he sounds very much his father’s son, to no great success.Yet there is a suggestion in the best of his work that he has the makings of a great sideman.

Zak Starkey (46) is the most established as a professional musician, as a drummer with The Who and Oasis. He is fierce drummer, more Keith Moon and John Bonham than Ringo, and arguably the only Beatle son who has surpassed his father, in a purely musical sense at least. And it turns out, not surprisingly, that
he is the least interested in a Beatles 2.0: “I don’t think it’s something Zak wants to do,” admitted James.
 “Maybe Jason would want to do it.” Jason Starkey (44) is another drumming son of Ringo and Maureen,
 who has played in a couple of bands that made no impression whatsoever.

And where’s Julian Lennon in all this? Poor fellow has been suffering from comparison to his famous
 father all his life, now it looks like he’s getting left out of the party again. Where, to be fair he is probably better off.

The Beatle’s offspring may be talented musicians in their own right, but they are also privileged musicians who grew up in wealth and comfort. Their dilettantish careers suggest that they lack the fierce drive and hunger of their fathers, raised in a post-War world or rations and deprivation, where rock and roll exploded as a new and exciting creative force, offering them a chance of escape.

 The Beatles were playing professionally in the strip clubs of Hamburg before they were twenty years
old, a sink-or-swim experience that was the making of them, binding them together as friends and players, and setting them off on a path that would shake the world. They were younger than their sons are now by the time they had broken up. 

 

Different people, different world, and no matter how their fans long to see it recreated, the Beatles can never happen again.

Rock Moms, Rock Kids

There were the groups -- The Mamas and the Papas, Mothers of Invention, Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys. There were the songs -- "Your Mother Should Know," "Mother and Child Reunion," "Your Mama Can't Dance."

But nothing pays simultaneous tribute to rock and motherhood like recognizing these rockin' moms and their kids who followed in their professional footsteps. Here's to the moms who rock, and their contributions to the musical gene pool.

Mom: Carly Simon   Kids: Ben Taylor and Sally Taylor 

In music, there's nothing quite like the sound of family harmony, especially when the family includes the likes of James Taylor and Carly Simon. Mom enlisted her two talented children by Taylor, Ben and Sally, to join her on her 2005 tour.When not performing with mom, son tours and records with the Ben Taylor Band. Daughter writes and sings and has three solo albums to her credit.

Mom: Carole King  Kids: Louise Goffin and Sherry Goffin Kondor

The songwriting team of Carole King and Jerry Goffin produced a huge catalog of hit songs. Their nine-year marriage produced two successors to the family business.Louise Goffin is a singer-songwriter with a five album discography. She is heard in duet with her mother on the Gilmore Girls TV show theme, "Where You Lead."
Sherry Goffin Kondor -- who performed (along with sis Louise) with mom during her Living Room Tour in 2004 -- has recorded an album of children's music, founded the band Sugar Beats and manages pop artist Jesse McCartney.

 

Mom: Yoko Ono  Kid: Sean Lennon 

Mom has a catalog of 23 albums, seven of them with husband John Lennon. With that kind of genetic background, it seems inevitable that son should be a singer, songwriter and musician. He also has acting and film producing credits on his resume.

 Mom: Jessi Colter  Kid: Shooter Jennings

Both mom (widow of the late Waylon Jennings) and son have left their musical footprints primarily in the country genre, but both have crossed over to pop/rock: mom with '70s hits like "I'm Not Lisa" and son with Southern Rock band Stargunn. 

 

Mom: Michelle Phillips Kid: Chynna Phillips

Michelle was the mama and John Phillips was the papa in both their professional and personal lives. Like mother (The Mamas and the Papas) like daughter Chynna (Wilson Phillips) -- both found their musical success came when they performed with a group, and both have also pursued acting careers.

 Mom: Sharon Osbourne  Kid: Kelly Osbourne

Mom's musical career has been behind the scenes, as a manager and promoter. She has had three kids with Heavy Metal stalwart Ozzy Osbourne, including Kelly, who has released three relatively successful (especially overseas) solo albums.

 Lot of people might say that their mom is a rock star. But for a smaller portion of the population, their mom actually is a rock star. In honour of Mother's Day, and all of the figuratively and literally rocking moms out there, we'd like to salute them all for their selfless love and inspiration

cafe idly @ bangalore: Music lessons for kids this summer

cafe idly @ bangalore: Music lessons for kids this summer: Summer is here and parents are looking for ways to keep their kids entertained, engaged and learning.When our children were younger, we co...

Music lessons for kids this summer

Summer is here and parents are looking for ways to keep their kids entertained, engaged and learning.When our children were younger, we comforted them with lullabies and entertained them with nursery rhymes and songs. We shouldn’t stop there. Ideally, we should encourage them to learn how to play a musical instrument may be enroll children in music lessons over the summer.

Music helps develop our children’s creativity, plus a number of other skills that will serve them well for the rest of their lives. Even if they never play for a symphony orchestra, the process of mastering an instrument will develop their mental, emotional and cognitive abilities.

1. Music improves your child’s concentration.
It takes a great deal of focus and patience to master an instrument. Aside from learning how to read notes, your child will also have to pay attention to his posture and factors like rhythm, timing, or even the pressure of his fingers on the instrument.

2. Music improves your child’s coordination.
Playing the piano or the violin may not be as physically rigorous as cricket,football or kabaddi, but these activities do develop hand-eye coordination—not to mention the fine motor skills required in learning how to write.

3. Music provides a good form of stress relief.
Children do get stressed! Adults may think that school is nothing compared to the pressure they go through at the office, but they’re much younger, and still have difficulty understanding and getting a handle on their emotions and fears.

Music can be their way of relaxing. Studies show that playing an instrument can lower heart rates and blood pressure. Plus, the daily practice can be a comforting routine.

4. Music develops your child’s self-confidence.
As your child masters an instrument, he discovers and develops his talents, and gains tremendous self-satisfaction in seeing his progress. He may also enjoy having a skill that other people don’t have—and of course sharing it with other people, and enjoying their praise and admiration. It also helps if your child has the support and encouragement of the adults around him, from his parents to a kind teacher or mentor.

5. Music can make our child smarter.
Studies show that learning music can help improve reading comprehension, mathematics, and cognitive skills like verbal and perceptual abilities as well as spatial reasoning. One landmark research, done by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, show that exposure to musical instruction can lead to higher academic scores.

Researchers believe it’s because reading musical notes and playing instruments involve thinking ahead, visualizing, pattern recognition and using spatial-temporal skills—which children don’t get when they’re just watching TV or using the computer. The spatial-temporal skills are also one reason why music has been linked to mathematical intelligence and abstract reasoning.

Learning to play music well builds creativity, confidence, persistence problem-solving, and other skills that can help children in schoolwork and in life. Regardless of the instrument, every kid should get the opportunity to experience the joy and sense of accomplishment that comes from learning to play.

So let's get the kids signed up for music lessons!what do you say ??