NEW DELHI, INDIA, July 15, 2001: To help the leaders of India and Pakistan ease five decades of animosity, chefs dropped crushed pearl, coral and mica into a mood-elevating meal laced with the elixir of Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine. The chefs said the menu was designed so that Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, “are at peace with themselves and with each other” during their formal talks. The menu for Sunday’s summit lunch included soups, kebabs, chicken, lamb and freshwater prawns, said chef Narendra Singh of Jaypee Palace hotel in Agra, where the talks are being held. The grilled prawns were laced with a pinch of fired coral and the lamb and rice dish with powdered pearls, both believed to have therapeutic value, the chef told Indian media. Other ingredients used in the menu were “zarraqoosh,” a cooling agent, “shilajit,” liquefied iron extracted from Himalayan rocks, powdered mica and an extract derived from lichens, which according to Ayurveda has great revitalizing power.
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