'Take Pride in Indian Cuisine'

INDIAN CULINARY Forum (North India) and BW Hotelier presented the fifth Chef Summit 2017 on 1st November 2017 at The Ashok, New Delhi. In a session on ‘Way Forward for Indian Cuisine: Contemporary Twists and New Technologies’ moderated by Sourish Bhattacharyya, Consulting Editor, BW Hotelier witnessed some of the eminent personalities on the dice namely Chef Manjit Gill, President, Indian Federation of Culinary Associations; Sabyasachi Gorai, Head Chef and Co-Owner, Lavaash by Saby; Ravitej Nath, Regional Chef Consultant and Entrepreneur; Chef Abhishek Gupta, Executive Sous Chef at The Leela Ambience Gurgaon Hotel & Residences and  Sitaram Mewati, Editor-in-Chief Mumbai Messenger.

Chef Gill began the discussion by stating that if India has to reach the international markets, the only route to reach there is by ‘Traditional’. “In all aspects whether it is presentation, service, we have to rediscover our own cuisine and present it to the world in a traditional way but we also have to be modern without changing the taste of food,” he said.

Adding to this Chef Gorai said that we have to be proud of our tradition and discover more about it, “I was very lucky to be traveling at a very young age. I have been to international forums in early 2000 and I always thought that we all should go back to doing our own food because as much as I have traveled abroad, I was primarily known for the cuisine, culture, heritage and the history of India that I come from,” he said.

Speaking about the lower price of Indian food in abroad, Chef Nath said that people in abroad hardly think of celebrating at an Indian Restaurant, “I am working on couple of projects in abroad where we are trying to change the mindset of the people, because whenever we present the business plan in abroad the mind set of people in terms of pricing is not very positive” he said.

Chef Gill concluded the panel by advising the young aspiring chefs to learn about the ingredients in their own language “we have to discover India, if you hear of any ingredient try to find out the Sanskrit or Hindi name of that ingredient and you will find that ingredient available in your backyard” he said.