4th intercultural breakfast celebrates India

15 Apr 2011 - Shawn Simpson, Agence ITER France Welcome Office
Hot curry and chai instead of coffee and croissant: guests at the 4th intercultural breakfast this week.
It is well known that food is a focal point around which all cultures gather. Food is the one communication tool that is always successful. The series of intercultural breakfasts started a tradition of gathering ITER Organization staff around food from each represented country.

On Wednesday, 13 April, about 100 staff gathered around an Indian breakfast organized by the Indian community at ITER in the lobby of the Agence Iter France. This was a real discovery for most of the participants with wonderful dishes such as kandabhaji, wada, bataka poha, khandwi, idli-sambhar, gota palak or appe. Indian tea also known as "chai" was served piping hot (tea with milk and ginger).
 
We all know of the incredible Indian diversity in languages, religions, cultures and traditions. This event was a perfect example of the richness of this country. We would like to once more thank our Indian colleagues who put so much into preparing, serving and sharing their culinary preparations. Their exceptional capacity to treat all of us as honoured guests was a lesson in humility.
 
We cannot mention India without talking about its recent success in the Cricket World Cup Championship. Congratulations, and we hope to be able to thank you very soon with other Intercultural Breakfasts from around our ITER partner countries. The next one will be French with the celebration of the first of May (Labour Day in France) and the traditional muguet flower. Please check the ITER intranet Buzz for date and location.