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Would you try a bowlful of mushroom
soup or is wine sipping your forte? India Empire fills you
up on what’s up next in the food and beverage scene
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Flavours of Mushroom
September 9-18
At Ralphs. Uppal’s Orchid, New Delhi
The timing will be 12 pm to midnight and the menu is a
la carte.
Mushrooms make a very friendly ingredient to chefs,
the world over. The flavour is unique; each variety
has a specific taste, purpose as well as application.
Mushrooms are also versatile and can blend well with
other flavors like seafood, chicken, herbs and spices.
Mushrooms also make a vegetarian’s delight. The
variety of edible mushrooms makes a very interesting
subject and every place has its own distinct variety
of mushroom to boast of. |
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French Foodies come to india
Sopexa’s, the food and beverage marketing and
promotion board of France, is launching its India
office to help promote better ties between the food
industries of the two countries. The New Delhi office
would be Sopexa’s 40th office abroad and India the
34th foreign country of operation. The French minister
of state for agriculture, food processing, fisheries
and rural affairs, Nicholas Forrisseur, will launch
the office here with Jean Bosse, deputy managing of
Sopexa’s. The office in India would be hosted by
Ritu Overseas, whose partner Rajiv Singhal, would be
head of the mission here. With growing demand for
French food and drinks in India, and an anticipated
multi-fold growth in demand, the office would help
integrate agriculture markets in the two countries.
Sopexa’s works to promote the interests of sectors
like wines and spirits, fruit and vegetables, meat and
dairy products, fish and processed foods as well as
livestock.
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Let’s say cheers to wine
Union minister for agriculture Sharad Pawar wants
Maharashtrians to drink more wine. He also wants the
state government to lower taxes and allow wine bottles
to share shelf space with soft drinks in grocery
stores. And he doesn’t like the name ‘wine shop’
for places that sell school (your regular rum, whiskey
or vodka) preferring the name ‘liquor shops instead’.
All of this, of course, will be good for the
economic health of the state, said Pawar at the annual
meet of the grape farmers association in Pune. Arguing
that the restrictions on the sale of wine be lifted,
Pawar said, "Wine should be available where we
get Coca-cola." The Union minister also wants
atax break for this growing agric-based industry. The
state government has already adopted policy that
encourages wineries, exempting wants an excise duty
exemption as well. His reason are simple the industry
has tremendous scope both in domestic and exports
markets. And even if Chateau Indage and Sula are not
the best wines in the world, they have gained
acceptability in India in a fairly short span of time.
"Wineries have the potential to change the
economic of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh,"
said Pawar. But fro that to happen there has to be a
change of attitude towards wine. "There is lot of
misunderstanding about wine," which is different
from liquor," said Pawar. The state government
has decided not to describe liquor as wine. All this
is very good news for grape growers who supply the raw
material for wine. Their association has demanded that
grape wine be excluded from alcohol category and sold
without a liquor licence. |
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Coke loses fizz
The Kerala State Pollution Control Board
(KSPCB) has ordered closure of soft drinks
major Coca-Cola’s plant at Plachimada in
Palakkad district. In its order, the Board
held that the reply given by the company to
its earlier notice on pollution standards of
the plant had not been satisfactory. The
Board examined the sludge generated by the
company and it was found that it contained
the heavy metal, cadmium, at concentration
of 200 to 300 mg per kg of sludge, which is
400-600 per cent above the permissible
limit. The company had not implemented the
directive to install reverse osmosis system.
The PCB order had come as a setback to the
company at a time when it was getting ready
to resume production after remaining closed
for about two years. |
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September 2005
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