Life is a journey and certainly it becomes exciting when embarked with events & experiences that are pleasant and memorable. Taking a day out from your busy routine to be in the costume of your favourite Bollywood Character, playing that role while participating in a fun filled rocking event including Blind Food Tasting, Quiz, Salad Making, Ice-Cream Relay Contest blah blah… Sounds too difficult to hold your horses isn’t it? Well, this is not an early morning dream put in words but the recently organized Bloggers Meet cum Food Hunt by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council at Sunville Banquet, Worli, Mumbai, presided by none other than Mr. Sandeep Bhan, Chief Operating Officer of Sime Darby Oils, part of Sime Darby Plantation, the biggest producer of Sustainable Palm Oil who has been in the industry working in various countries for more than 23 years now, along with Dr. Bhavna Shah, Country Representative for India & Sri Lanka – Malaysian Palm Oil Council, which comes under the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities of Malaysia. 🌴
Soon after the welcome address by the delegates, the bloggers were divided into small groups and handed over the clue card that had the hint for the nearby restaurant to rush to for the Food Hunt. The first one to land in was Baraanaa, to compete with other groups over a Blind Food Tasting contest wherein the dish to be identified was Mint Fritter fried in Palm Oil which was found absolutely non oily. Unlike other oils, palm oil doesn’t break down or lose its nutritional value at high heat. With its high smoke point, it’s a smarter choice for grilling, frying or sautéing than olive oil. The finishing teams in sequence had the next clue card that led them to The Game to participate in the Quiz based on Palm Oil, thereby broadening their horizon of knowledge on the subject. 😎
Light House Café was the next destination to bring out the Chefs in the Bloggers over a Salad Making Contest. The ingredients provided for the same included Palm Oil for dressing, apart from Cherry Tomatoes, Onion, Cucumber, Boiled Corn, Sprouts, Lettuce, Carrot & Vinegar which tasted really good despite of the raw oil being used. Its neutral flavour also makes Palm Oil a good substitute for butter when baking, or for mayonnaise in pasta and potato salads. Back to Sunville Banquet where it all began from, an Ice Cream Relay Contest was organised where in all the ingredients had Palm Oil in them viz. Hide & Seek Biscuit, Nutella, Vanilla Ice-Cream, Ferrero Rocher Chocolates etc. 🍦🍪🍫
While we are struggling hard globally to take care of our environment, growing of Oil Palm contributes towards the same as it is able to produce 10 times more oil per hectare of land compared to other oil crops. At the same time it is truly profitable as the high yield of Palm Oil can continue for 20-30 years. When oil palm trees grow old and cut down, their trunks are left to decompose to restore organic matter to the soil and complete the soil nutrient cycles. These trunks are also made into furniture. Most importantly, Palm Biodiesel being nontoxic, eco-friendly & renewable too is certainly going to be the “Green Fuel” of the future, looking at the scarcity along with the skyrocketing prices of other prevalent fuels in the market. While India proves to be the highest importer of Palm Oil which has in fact got doubled up in the last Financial Year, we are looking forward for the propagation of its numerous benefits and versatile application apart from its positive contribution on our health.
Last year the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) signed MoU’s with Mumbai Dabbawala Association (MDA) and The Solvent Extractor’s Association of India (SEA) to expand co-operation in areas of mutual interest to broadly promote the development and use of Malaysian palm oil and MSPO certified palm oil as a valuable commodity where the interests of the organisations are amenable through joint efforts. This includes educating consumers on the usage, nutritional and health properties of palm oil, disseminating information about Malaysian palm oil to enhance its application and elucidating its numerous strengths and benefits and upholding the good name of Malaysian palm oil by closing the gap between the issues of perception, allegations and the realities of palm oil, thereby to promote economic aspirations of the country including the Make in India philosophy to achieve self-sufficiency in edible oils. 💧
Like all good things comes to an end, this rocking event couldn’t have come to an end formally without the Photo session of Groups and individuals with the cut outs of Bollywood Characters from the Blockbuster Hits. Each participant were not only dressed aptly to match up the character they were representing but also performed in a really unique way on the stage. Right from Bobby to Roy, Circuit (Munnabhai MBBS) to Pooja (Dreamgirl), Vyjanthimala to SRK and the list goes on… It was an absolutely fun filled and interesting show where each participant truly justified the character they were in. The Best Dressed Female & Male were awarded along with the Winning Group of Food Hunt and the event culminated over a sumptuous Lunch. 🏆
Finally, my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Bhavna Shah for organising such a fabulous event as promised during the last event and to the Delegate from Malaysia Mr. Sandeep Bhan for sharing such incredible information with each of the invitees. Kudos to Ms. Priyanka Patel, Mr. Rauf Sayed & the entire team of Unbox Concepts for meticulously planning & efficiently executing the entire event. Goes without saying, the event wouldn’t have been so exciting without the active participation of the Bloggers, Social Media Influencers & Enthusiasts. As declared during this event, we are eagerly looking forward to the upcoming events by MPOC that includes the best 10 Bloggers visiting Malaysia to witness the whole episode of “Palm Oil” right from the cultivation to processing and packaging at source. 😇👍🏻
For more details on Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), please visit their website on http://www.mpoc.org.in/
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Weekend Special Cooking - Satyajeet David 