President Obama enjoyed a Himalayan-inspired meal prepared by renowned Indian American chef Vikas Khanna at a high-profile fundraiser held May 14, at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. Some of the city’s hoi polloi paid more than $35,000 for the multicourse meal that Khanna told Desi Talk, was inspired by the values the President espouses.

If you thought Pakistan has only a limited menu to offer, you were wrong! Renowned chefs from across the border dished out a cuisine that is robust and nuanced, infused with sensibility and made with the best local ingredients at the four-day Pakistan Lifestyle Expo in the Indian capital that ends Sunday. In an evolutionary sense, offering and sharing of food straighten social and cultural bonds.

A plate of food and wine on the table is no longer mere gastronomy. It is high art of flavour, colour, textures, concepts, cultures, science and politics - everything that contemporary art has been experimenting with for the last decade.

It was a Sunday feast in the best of non-vegetarian and vegetarian cuisine that was on offer at the lunch hosted by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for visiting Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.

Times have changed for the humble egg. Gone are the days of bhurji and egg curry it is the age of "personalised omelettes" with names inscribed on them, of one-eyed Susans and egg jellies for desert.

Indian cuisine is drawing global celebrities, its latest aficionado being Arnold Schwarzenegger who was reported missing his appointments to gorge on king-size naans and tandoori prawns at Bukhara at ITC Maurya.

Restaurant weeks are getting increasingly common around the world. New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Sydney and Hong Kong are established players in this area and food lovers eagerly look forward to good cuisine at an amazingly reasonable prices. India is not far behind now with such restaurant weeks in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore held twice a year. A three-course meal at Rs.1,000 at some of the finest restaurants is indeed a steal.