Spice: Man's last frontier

Actually, the story's not quite that good, because Maurice, former proprietor of the town's popular Walmer Lodge Hotel and more recently a lecturer at Worcester College of Technology, was there to help Indian chefs cope better with the country's burgeoning tourist trade.

"India is attracting more and more European tourists these days and after a while they get fed up with curries," he explained.

"When you've been eating spiced stews for three or four weeks, you'd kill for a chunk of bread and cheese and a pint of beer."

His visit was arranged through the British Executive Service Overseas - or BESO for short - which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary of providing professional know-how to help less developed nations.

Between them, the counties of Worcestershire and Gloucestershire have more than 60 BESO volunteers, experts such as teachers, engineers, doctors, even editors, who have been helping to make a difference in countries like China, Indonesia, South America, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.

"There's a very wide spectrum of skills on offer, from automation to zoology," said Maurice.

His secondment to India was for two months, during which he visited four cities - New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta - to train hotel and restaurant chefs.

"The culture shock was tremendous to start with," he added.

"No one eats beef. The cow is a sacred animal and wanders at will throughout the streets.

"A lot of people are vegetarians, but the vegetables grown out there, because of the poor quality of the soil, are very small.

"Around the coasts there are fish, but inland, there is very little and the chickens you have to cook with are tiny with little meat on them. No alcohol is allowed, so you can't do coq au vin, for example.

"They do cook with what they call 'mutton' and buffalo is used as well, but with the best will in the world, buffalo meat is no substitute for Scottish beef.

"Because of its quality, a lot of their meat tends to be tough and that's why they stew it.

"Restaurant menus comprise page after page of curries or goulash dishes and tucked away is what is known as the Continental Corner, where you might find things like meat pie, tomato soup, fish and chips or spaghetti bolognese."

Another challenge was the shortage of adequate refrigeration.

"Meat tended to go off quickly, so if it was 36C in the street, you can imagine what it was like in the kitchens," said Maurice.

For all that, cooking in India had its pluses.

"The chefs were desperately keen to learn. They'd often attend my sessions both before and after their own shifts.

"They wanted to learn how to cook for tourists and, almost without exception, the hotel kitchens were superbly fitted out, although there didn't seem to be a budget for maintenance and if something went wrong, you were in trouble.

"The Indians are also an extremely polite, warm people, who welcome you and nothing is too much trouble.

"However, the country is full of people. It teems. They do big numbers and they eat very large portions. A bit like Americans in that respect."

One of the advantages of Indian cuisine is the use of buffalo milk rather than cow.

"It's very sweet and ideal for crme caramel, custard and trifles," said Maurice. "You can use it in bread and butter pudding too, but as they don't have currants or raisins, you substitute them with nuts. It's different, but that's the way it is."

A main hurdle to overcome was the Indian tradition of serving food buffet style.

"They prefer it that way and will go back to the buffet three or four times for extra portions.

"Of course, this is ideal when you are serving stews, but it makes some European food difficult to present. Meat pies, for example, are difficult to keep warm."

English dishes he encouraged the Indian chefs to try included Lancashire hotpot and shepherd's pie, so in due course you might see these creeping on to the menu of the local tandoori on a Saturday night.