NEW DELHI, Mar 13: Unraveling various secrets of the multifaceted cuisine from India is on the agenda of a select gathering of chefs, journalists and people from hospitality industry who are gearing up for a grand event here this December.
A three-day symposium ‘Tasting India’ scheduled to be held at India Habitat Centre is being organised by food blogger Sourish Bhattacharya and Sanjoo Malhotra, whose ‘Namaste Stockholm’ initiative had become Sweden’s biggest showcase of India in 2015.
The idea, says Bhattacharya, originated a year ago during President Pranab Mukherjee’s maiden visit to Sweden.
“Tasting India Symposium’ actually originated a year ago in Stockholm. Sanjoo Malhotra was doing an event called India Unlimited as a mark of celebration of President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Sweden.
“During discussions there was a realisation that people know very little about Indian cuisine and everyone thinks about Indian food as Chicken Tikka Masala or Naan, Vindaalo etc. The whole idea was of doing a mega meet of chefs, journalist and travel industry people to let people know about Indian cuisine and ingredients,” says Bhattacharya.
The upcoming 3-day event is set to have sessions, talks, discussions, film screenings and book releases.
“There will be lot of talks and discussions on the variety of Indian cuisines including topics such as bio-thrift, a practice of utilising all the parts of the vegetables for cooking without wasting even the stem or leaves
“We aim to promote sustainable eating and believe that vegetable cuisine is the most sustainable cuisine in the world,” he says.
The food blogger says efforts are also being made to promote Satvik cuisine and have a Satvik dinner besides a dinner called ‘Kitchens of India’, an ITC Brand to acquaint people with cuisine from across the country “in just one evening under the same roof.”
According to organisers, the symposium is expected to see
over 20 journalists from across the globe including that from America, UK, South-east Asia, Korea, Japan, UAE, Middle East.
The first edition of the mega food event is set to be held in Delhi with a second slated to take place in Stockholm.
“We are looking to promote not only Indian cuisines but also Indian ingredients like turmeric, garlic, ginger, variety of rice, soyabean etc. We want to present the diversity in Indian cuisine and ingredient to the world,” says Bhattacharya.
Chefs from different parts of the country are expected to attend symposium and share their their thoughts on the diverse Indian cuisine and ingredients/
“We have a vision to see India like Italy or France in the next some years where food tourism will be a nutshell part,” says Malhotra.
“We believe that Indian people have to learn about the depth in their cuisines. We want to showcase the entire variety of Indian cuisine,” says Bhattacharya.
Apart from food, the symposium will also have talks and discussions on food and beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.
The organisers plan to get a live wire website which would be a one stop destination for the queries to Indian food.
“There are plans to start a live wire website which would be a one-stop destination for Indian food. Anyone can access anything on Indian cuisines. Also we want to get an encyclopedia of Indian cuisines in a hard disk format since people do not like reading much nowadays,” says Bhattacharya.
The discussion held here recently at the Delhi Pavilion, Sheraton hotel saw chefs like Manjit Gill, food historian Colleen Taylor Sen, American journalist Michael Snyder, Viraj Bahl, founder and CEO of Veeba Food Products, and Mohit Balachandran of Chowder Singh fame. (PTI)
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