Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Amore's Organic Gelato and The Uniform Project - proof that we CAN achieve what we believe in.

My friend nutritionist Naini Setalvad asked me to help with pledging one of my organic foodie creations for a recycle fashion initiative at Mumbai’s Bungalow 8 last week called The Uniform Project hosted by Vogue India.

I am always willing to go the extra mile for children, especially if it betters their future, so I happily pledged Amore's fabulous new Organic gelato for the occasion.If it weren't for her I would never have found out about the UniformProject (because I so seldom look beyond my world of food). But I am so glad I did because New York-based design professional Sheena Matheiken has managed to curate a charming project that has had me enamoured ever since!



Eight months ago, Sheena began a year-long “wearathon”, pledging to wear the same little black dress everyday, accessorised with different layers and accessories. Titled the Uniform Project, this initiative, she hoped,would raise awareness for sustainable fashion as well as money to fund uniforms and other educational equipment for Akanksha’s School Project. She has seven black dresses (one for each day of the week) that she reinvents every day using donated and recycled clothes and accessories. If you have ever stared at your cupboard overflowing with clothes and lamented about what to wear, people, take a leaf from her book, truly! (I go back every morning to see what Sheena has assembled as an outfit for the day.)

It was a special evening for me offering Amore's organic gelato to the guests at the event. Their surprise when they heard Organic, their expression when they saw it and their reaction of WOW when they tasted it made all challenges of bringing the Organic gelato to reality worthwhile. You see I consider Amore's Organic initiative a personal achievement of sorts. The actual creation was done by their brilliant chefs but I was excited to be a significant contributor in bringing the idea into reality. India's organic market is at an extremely nascent stage, we are only beginning to wake up to the concept so finding supplies for organic certified sugar, milk and other ingredients were a challenge. And then tweaking things so that we managed delicious flavours from limited resources were another challenge. But we made it happen!

Although one cannot use the term ice cream for gelato because gelato does not fit the Indian legal parameters of what ice cream should be, in effect what we have managed to achieve is India's first organic icecream!

Amore's Organic Gelato and The Uniform Project may be small drops in a vast ocean, but they are proof that initiatives with a heart CAN be a success when people come together as a team and pool resources.

Note to self - It was my first visit to Bungalow 8, its been on my radar for a while but I have not had a chance to actually check it out. But I intend to go back and explore at leisure - there are a couple of extremelyu lustworthy glass bottles I spotted that I wouldn't mind on my pickle shelf and a fab pair of filigree earings the magpie in me is lusting after...

----

CLICK ON THESE LINKS
to look at pictures and read an official report of Vogue and Bungalow8 U.P. Sari Soiree
to make a donation, www.theuniformproject.com
to read more about the Uniform Project, Akanksha’s School Project and Amore Gourmet Gelato.

Bungalow 8 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors, 17 Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba. No. 22819880.,

No comments: