The icing on the cake whereas overlaying a sport
More than a decade in the past, my professor at journalism college suggested us to at all times carry a number of sweets or an vitality bar whereas we had been on the sphere. This was to counter the unsure world of day-to-day reporting, the place each availability of meals and home windows to eat are erratic.
Nevertheless, I took up sports activities journalism, the place a day is extra structured. We all know of occasions beforehand, and we often cowl a sport which has designated breaks for lunch and tea, and of late, even dinner. This has given us the chance to discover a number of culinary worlds. A lot in order that the lunch and tea spreads rank second within the checklist of our curiosities, slightly below the good sport itself.
There are those that take into account catering at stadiums as an enabler and never a primary occasion. It helps scribes do their jobs with out having to fret about filling their stomachs. It’s a complimentary service, not a proper. However cricket in India — a minimum of at a majority of the stadiums — has such good preparations for meals that it has turn out to be an integral a part of our expertise.
On this, I can say with authority — and might communicate for lots of others too — that Chennai and its iconic venue Chepauk ranks one of the best. It did once I labored there from 2012 to 2015, and it nonetheless did once I went again final yr.
Throughout IPL 2024, one favorite dish was kalan pattani milagu peratal (mushrooms and inexperienced peas cooked in crushed black pepper and onion masala). It was wealthy and layered, consistent with its lengthy title and elaborate clarification.
Bengaluru, my dwelling metropolis; Indore, extensively considered the road meals capital of India; and Ahmedabad, which I’ve visited typically previously two years, provide glorious spreads too.
In actual fact, cricket reporters commonly add images of ‘right now’s menu’ on social media platforms, and two enthusiastic journalists even began an online portal to doc every venue and the meals it needed to provide.
A month in the past, I landed in Leeds, United Kingdom, to cowl the opening match of the continuing five-match Take a look at sequence between England and India. I had, in fact, packed my common set of ready-to-eat meals, however I used to be very a lot trying ahead to the lunch and tea buffets on the famed cricket floor in Headingley.
Mac and cheese and one boiled vegetable welcomed me on day one. With that, my bubble, which had swollen disproportionately due to years of pampering, burst instantly.
The native press corps was upset with the delicacies too, and although issues obtained higher within the days forward and the desserts had been excellent all through, the primary afternoon was a tough reminder that catering was certainly a service and never a proper.
My colleagues from different Indian media homes, who had previous expertise of overlaying cricket in England, assured me that I’d be higher off in Birmingham, the venue for the second Take a look at. The West Midlands metropolis has a big Asian inhabitants and I used to be determined to see that wealthy variety replicate in my plate.
The Industrial Revolution-era megapolis didn’t disappoint, with the primary afternoon providing masala chickpea salad, Indian chopped salad, gradual cooked carrots and broccoli, and home-made flavoured bread. To spherical it off, there was chocolate mint with chocolate mousse and egg custard tart, tickling my style buds no finish.
Wimbledon, my final cease of the work tour, was predictable however good. From the menu to the cooks to the counter-managers within the media cafeteria, nothing had modified a lot since my first go to in 2019. The world well-known strawberries and cream was inflation-proof from 2010 to 2024 at £2.50, and rose by 20 pennies solely this version.
And like a champion tennis participant’s repeatable approach, the catering on the All England Membership delivers each single time. An important service that everybody rightfully enjoys.
sudarshan.narayanan@thehindu.co.in
Revealed – July 18, 2025 01:01 am IST
