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Play time A skit was part of the celebrations

It was a festival in its truest sense, so much so that you could see and even taste France. The fest had it all – a French food festival, a rock concert by a Kwak Rock Group, a quiz on France, and a French film festival.

The inauguration was at the Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT). The French film festival, which started much earlier was on at the T.M.A. Planetarium Complex. The aroma of French food was wafting in the air at the Cosmo Restaurant in Hotel Valley View, where French Food Festival was being held.

The students of Manipal University had never had it so good as they hopped from one location to another to enjoy a slice of France. The inauguration was followed by a skit performed by the students of the MIT. The skit showed a French lady asking for the way to MIT in French. The students showed her the wrong way only to find out later she is their French teacher. The skit had the audience in splits.

After the inaugural function, the students came down to Hotel Valley View, attached to the Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration (WGHSA), and were quickly smitten by the aroma of French food. If they thought they could immediately rush in and pamper their taste buds with the delicious French food and the choicest of French wines, they were in for a surprise. There was a long queue for it. They had to wait for quite some time to get a table at Cosmo.

Such was the gastronomic net cast by the chef Alian Andre and his team of assistants, the students of WGSHA. For the connoisseurs of good food and wine, there were 25 French dishes, including desserts on offer, and an array of wine.

In the Cosmo kitchen, the chef and his team were working non-stop to cater to the ever-growing list of demands, even as the connoisseurs were saying “bon appetite” to their friends. Chef Andre was all praise for the arrangements and his assistants. “The arrangements are excellent. I only had to explain the cuisine to the students and they picked up quickly. They did not goof up,” he said.

For the students, it was a learning experience. Kirti, a fourth year student at WGSHA said, “It is a wonderful experience cooking French cuisine. The chef is a nice teacher. From cooking to serving, we are handling everything.” Concurred Shashwat, a second year student of WGHSA, “It is a good opportunity for me to learn and know more about French cuisine.” In addition to all these, the next day, the students enjoyed music by the Kwak Rock Band from France, which brought the curtains down on the festival, leaving behind a sense of nostalgia, with many wishing it had gone for some more days.

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