Local dishes on German menu

This has been made possible through a TT citizen, Indra Dwarka Koch who has been living in Germany since 1971.

She has been working with the Kaiserslautern City Corporation on a project to showcase the various foods of the nations playing in Kaiserslautern during the World Cup Finals from June 9 to July 9.

Obviously thrilled over TT’s qualification for World Cup, Koch, who is a retired nurse, contacted the Kaiserslautern City Hall following the draw for the finals last December, indicating to them that she was from TT.

Since then she has been conducting workshops. But more than that, Koch was contacted by the Vocational School of Kaiserslautern to provide menus and also assist in the making of local dishes for the students there.

Koch has since had menus featuring various local dishes published in a book which is currently on sale in Kaiserslautern and for the duration of the World Cup.

The book— Kaiserlautern Cooks for The World Cup was presented to TT Football Federation President Oliver Camps and Special Adviser Jack Warner at the TTFF headquarters on Saturday by Koch.

The author is back home for a few weeks along with her German husband Juergen Koch.

“When the team won against Bahrain, we were in Trinidad on holiday and we witnessed all the celebrations and we looked at the team as it passed through San Juan. I experienced the football fever.

“Then when I got back to Germany I said to myself that I must do something to celebrate this, living in Germany myself. I contacted the TTFF and I went through with my effort but it was not until the draw we decided what would do after I realised that the team would be playing in Kaiserslautern which is very close to where we live,” Koch said..

“We immediately contacted the Kaiserslautern City Hall but there was no immediate response until one day they replied saying they would like me to join with the Vocational School for this project,” she said.

There are eight countries (Saudi Arabia, United States, Spain, Japan, Australia, Italy, Paraguay and TT) profiled in the cookbook and a launch was held in Kaiserslautern with meals being cooked to be on display and for sampling.

“We put together a menu which included something Indo, Chinese, Creole and also something from Tobago with other related types of foods and it was a hit there. I was assisted by the students at the one-day workshop and now the students plan to cook the various recipes and this will be available during the World Cup on a main street in Kaiserslautern both in book form and foods,” Koch added.

She also spoke of purchasing the ground provision from the Asian shops in Germany and said he she also used authentic coconut milk in her meals.

“?I went all out with recipes from johnny bake with melongene choka, avocado and saltfish, mango chutney and pholourie. The main meal was tamarind chicken Tobago style and we called this ‘Kokoloco Tamarind Kuhn’ along with macaroni pie with corn and a combination of ground provision.

“I also did a bit of Chinese style vegetables of course with a Trini twist to it. And for desert we had passion fruit and mango pudding with coconut caramel,” she said.

Koch, formerly of St James was also part of a workshop hosted by The Mayor of Kaiserslautern Bernard J Deubig during which she was asked to give a presentation of TT culture.

“After the welcome speeches from the mayor and the other important officials of the city and FIFA representatives we got down to business— The Work Shop. There were three themes. The first was ‘Safe and Sympathetic Lautern.’ With safety first, it’s Kaiserslautern’s aim to make the games as safe as possible. Here we were asked to give a little insight of the mentality of our fellow countrymen.

“The next theme was ‘Sympathetic’ which was the most interesting. A cross-section of Kaiserslautern population was invited to ask about the country’s cultural, political, religious, economical and social structures.