that can bring everyone universe matter
what creed race or ethnicity together
and that transformational power lies in
the hands of the cook good afternoon
ladies and gentlemen
as you already know my name is Ruth
Amundsen and my story started in nursery
school
in the UK and we had a small segment on
cooking and as a child I was very very
cautious and not not so happy to step
out of my comfort zone but anyways the
desire to put my hands in a bowl of
chocolate finally overcame me so I went
for the cooking segment and my son
twists of Charles sulfate some luck the
head teacher came walking by that very
day and she crouched down to me a small
child this big and asked me if she could
take some we were making chocolate
truffles very simple and I gave this off
I was shocked I was flabbergasted
I’d never been singled out for anything
apart from my parents she took it she
ate her and that’s how poisonous and
must have tasted at that time she told
me she was lovely and it was amazing and
I had a I had a talent and that
shouldn’t let it go and that was the
right encouragement at the right time
because what she said was a throwaway
line she was said that to anybody but to
me it really meant something and it
sparked my passion but what followed
next was possibly some of the gloomiest
days of my life as a child living in the
UK whatever was off playing football
rugby tennis or cricket and I wanted to
stay home and cook I started to get
bullied and mocked and made fun off and
people used to call me things like girly
sissy and a lady and I never used to
understand that because if you look at
some of the top chefs
Granta shots since youth kapoor and
jamie oliver for example now tell me how
many are the three under said to you are
women there all may not be so why is it
that if the leaving people in the field
or man why do people constantly say that
a man has no place in the kitchen being
in a kitchen in fact people don’t
understand that being in the kitchen is
being in the kitchen isn’t just
sustenance no no no no no it’s much more
than that it’s an art form
people don’t say the only men should
paint and only women should say everyone
can do that
then why is there stereotype about
cooking because what cooking really is
and it’s a group it’s as artful because
if you really need to survive you can
eat almost anything I mean you can just
ask Bear Grylls that you can eat
anything but the reason we go out we pay
exorbitant prices to eat such nice food
as soon as it tastes light and it’s an
experience the same experiences if you
listen to some music oh you’re not like
a painting then why is it not
appreciated as it should be but anyways
I like this hidden you a little bit more
about myself as a child who was
interested in cooking my favorite movie
was of course as you guessed gratitude
and one thing that really got me
thinking not not the rat and mother no
it was Antonia the villain of the movie
and I say thinking why is it that he
hates all these thoughts chef’s dishes
they make Indian they make Chinese they
make French French a story’s delicate
cuisine but he hated it he could not
stand the food what yeah what got to him
what actually made him happy
what reminded him of his childhood was a
peasant’s dish and ratatouille the name
of the movie it’s a dish that was
originally eaten as a source of
sustenance but what they did with them
they changed it they made it more unique
and more special and that reminded of
his childhood and that’s what cooking is
about it’s about you you should leave
your mark on the plate I believe that
the world is a play and I’m going to
leave my mark on it and anyways I used
to cook quite often I usually cook
Chinese one day French the other Italian
accent Indian the fourth but it got
monotonous
every week
routine again and again and again and so
one day while watching ratatouille I
decided that why can’t I leave my mark
on my food it’s my food after all so
start thinking what is my month I’m nine
years old what do I have that is me how
do I represent myself and I started
thinking Who am I well I’m an Indian
citizen with a British passport
born in Bahrain brought up in London and
living in Dubai and the first thing that
came to mind was fusion cuisine fusion
and molecular gastronomy why because I’m
I like science a lot and so I started
doing some research and like all the top
chefs are not that are but like all the
top chefs they mix and match and they
don’t they don’t cook because someone’s
order something they cook because they
want to they cook what they want to so i
decided and the first thing that I made
as aforementioned
my parents ate it and they loved it it
was probably poisonous but they gave me
more encouragement and over the years
I’ve become so much more confident in my
abilities but anyways that’s not what
I’m here to talk to you about I’d like
to talk to you about fusion and
molecular gastronomy what is fusion
fusion is mixing creating and matching
different cuisines and different
techniques and a way to do this is a
molecular gastronomy and I like to be a
local example after talking a lot about
me dressing which is a place where they
believe food to be seen with all five
senses they have a signature dish
it’s called deconstructed black Farscape
and trust me it’s good what they do is
they’ll take black forest cake and
they’ll bring it back to all its root
fruit paths such as the cake the icing
the cherry cure and the frosting and
then go tweak it and they’ll change it
and they’ll mix it up a little bit as
you should do in a fusion dish so what
they’ll do is they’ll take the Victoria
sponge out and add a bit of an Indian
twist to it
they put something called barfi which is
a creamy Indian sweet and they use that
instead of
the cake what they do Nexus they put the
whipped cream in a liquid nitrogen so it
crunches in your mouth and you can taste
it for a long time after and the thing
they do with the cherry to cure it’s
possibly the most incredible thing you
have ever seen or you will ever see they
create this ball in which when you open
it when you pierce it all of the liquid
gushes are it is just the most amazing
thing you will ever taste I’d like to
give you another example one of the most
famous examples of all of the world it
is from the pop molecular gastronomy
restaurant in all the world run by
famous molecular gastronomy grandma
shots and what they do is they take a
traditional American breakfast packets
and maple syrup and he turns it into
something which he makes massive profit
on what he does is he’ll cook the
Packers versus little pancakes and then
people blend your pureed if you want to
be all technical then he’ll put them
back into a nozzle and he’ll freeze them
not not about putting them into the
fridge he’ll flash freeze them so they
still have that crunchy crisp texture
but still taste nice and then as
aforementioned they use the technicals
verification which they use agar agar to
create a membrane around on the maple
cell which again bursts in your mouth so
why am I telling you all of this what is
the reason well my logic is that if
molecular gastronomy is such a new thing
and it’s not yet been accepted why has
it not been accepted why but anyways I
like to end my talk and tell you what
I’ve left you with first of all men
women anyone even children can cook but
only the passionate and only the great
can be chefs second food is to be
appreciated
I could appreciate art and when I say
food I don’t mean when you go to
McDonald’s at 12 o’clock and order a
good panel of cheese you should sit in
all no because that’s not food and I’m
sure the Health Department of the group
would agree with me on that one it’s
mass-produced
special about it nobody cares nobody has
put any effort nobody’s put their heart
and soul into that burger
you eat it because you like it that’s it
there’s no history new story behind it
and finally I’d like to leave you with
this the table is a gathering round a
place for all people to meet and join
and to have fun to put aside their
grudges and to enjoy life because we all
know then in the 21st century
everyone gets caught up from time to
time but the dinner table is a place to leave all that behind thank