Whether it is avarai uttakka - local beans cooked with potato, tomato, onions, garlic and tempered with mustard seeds, or sandagai - roasted tomato sauteed with small onion, garlic and coconut ground to a fine paste - the "masala made carefully after dry-roasting 17 spices and not bought off the shops" is the key, Indira says.

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Where would German food be without the potato, Italian food without the tomato, or Thai food without chilies, all originally products of the New World?

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Another time, he taught me to load a boule of country bread with the guts of an over-ripe tomato, a stream of olive oil and a thick slice of potato omelet to make the world's best vegetarian sandwich.

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The one-Michelin-star restaurant The Park serves delicate dishes such as poached Scottish lobster with potato mousse and caviar, and braised shoulder of lamb with tomato and ricotta fritters and fennel puree.

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