If you are looking to stir up some authentic Burmesekhaosuey but do not have the ingredients to do so, fret not. In the age of food service chains, there’s one that drops all your ingredients in a pouch at your doorstep with a do-it-yourself kit. While gourmet food delivery services are by now the norm, this one makes you a masterchef of the moment. Eating at home is no longer just about placing an order but taking ownership of laying out your table. It is not about eating but participating in a food journey.
A quiet revolution of food artistry is brewing in our kitchens and the industry in a post-globalised world as we have finally become comfortable in our own skin and developed our own grammar of choices. We have been able to process our absorptive experiences, distill techniques and methods and stir them into our ancient food logic, which is now being hailed as one of the most composite and balanced. New Indian is even becoming a distinctive global trend with our chefs mastering the art of contemporising known favourites while being aggressively authentic about rediscovered cookbooks. At the same time, we are going deeper into other native cuisines and are increasingly developing a fetish for glocal, provincial specialities and moving away from the larger categorisations of French, Italian or Mexican. If eating was purely epicurean before, it is now intensely mindful and an evolving culture statement.
The regional stew
The transition in the new-age Indian menu has seen a pan-India participation. Even as the South Indian breakfast platters are now being considered as some of the world’s most wholesome, there’s a new-found respect for other regional and tribal specialities. The Northeastern meals-in-a-bowl and ingredients like Naga chilli have been mainstreamed as have Parsi and Goan. Says restaurateur Zorawar Kalra, son of the country’s original food connoisseur Jiggs Kalra, “India is a treasure trove of and, in my opinion, the only country in the world to have so many regional cuisines. Restaurateurs and chefs are exploring culinary gems from different regional cuisines, while employing modern culinary techniques and ultra-modern presentations to offer an iconic dish in a renewed avatar. While Indian regional cuisine has for long been led by Punjabi dishes globally for over five decades, I see the coming years becoming more cooptive. This will be truly avant garde.” He knows, having introduced Naga chilli lamb/pork and Mizo stew with black rice in the menu of his high street Masala library.
Restaurateur AD Singh, who seized our global imagination with Olive (Italian) and Ai (Japanese), has himself gone on to stretch his home frontiers with Soda Bottle Opener Wallah (Parsi) and lady Baga (Goan). “A new look at traditional cuisine is going to be the next big thing,” he says.
The regional favourites, according to The Imperial executive chef Prem Kumar Pogakula, are going to be established courtesy the new-found confidence of smaller cities outside the metropolises like Nagpur, Madurai, Ranchi, Coorg and Mysore. For example, The Taj Gateway property in Gurgaon is spearheading a menu featuring Haryanvi cuisine. It consists of loaves made from locally sourced flour (either bajra, wheat or gram) and bajra khichdis.
As food connoisseurs travel to the interiors for everyday exotic, the new trends are Himalayan, particularly Uttarakhandi, and tribal. Executive Chef of Eros Hotel, Nehru Place, Nikhil Rastogi, senses the sociological impact of migration impacting mainstream cuisine. “In the hospitality industry, most of the kitchen staff come from the hills these days. Armed with experience, they are now bringing the ingredients of home-cooked dishes out of the closet and gauging their use with both masses and classes.” The classic case here is the Kotkapura ka Atta Chicken, traditionally considered beggar’s chicken in Punjab. A whole chicken, packed inside with a marinade of cream or yogurt, tandoori masala, salt and a red bean stew, wrapped in atta dough and roasted in a slow-fire tandoor, its full-bodied taste and healthy preparation style has now taken it to the high table.
Farm to fork sustainables
Food made with locally sourced ingredients and even tools are increasingly gaining credence. Stone-cooking is back on the gourmet gallery as it is known for creating a smoky sear and flavour crust. Since it’s free of slats like a grill, it can handle food slathered in sauces and glazes with ease.
Repurposed vegetables to reduce waste have led to the use of skins, leaves and stalks in dishes. Research now proves that they have unique nutrients not found in other parts of the vegetables. The forager effect sees many restaurant kitchens convert their discarded vegetable parts to be used in purees, sauces, pickles or chips.
Chef Sabyasachi Gorai, popularly known as Chef Saby, feels that this is not just about sustainability but pride. “For many years we have shown pride in somebody else’s ingredients which in turn has also increased the carbon footprint of any dish. Obviously an Italian chef can use Parmesan better than I can. So I started the eco-consciousness or a farm to fork movement. Source the best local ingredients from land and sea and cook the kind of food the chef best represents.That is why the popularity of rustic, regional cuisine is growing as there are ingredients that we had forgotten and are rediscovering.”
He has used local innovations in his black rice and mushroom khichdi. “With cheese, it would be called a risotto,” he says. Similarly, he has made sushi with sticky black rice, steamed Chinese buns with chulai (a kind of spinach) and local mushrooms and is currently rolling out amaranth chocolates. He is even growing roselle flowers for use in teas and cocktails.
Chef Pogakula says this trend will give vegetarianism a big push in India in the next 10 years along with ayurvedic cooking. “More and more people will be concerned with the quality of ingredients they use in their foods and where they come from. The focus will be on better quality, whole grains, flavourful and healthy foods. This does not necessarily mean that people are going to be only concerned about losing weight or turning into health freaks, but opting for high quality holistic foods which are ‘locally’ and ‘responsibly’ sourced. With this continued interest in food that offers targeted nutrition and keeps the environment in mind, consumers will discover new products that meet their dietary needs and also taste great and promote overall wellness.”
Even internationally, herbs are redefining the idea of staples like zucchini noodles, quinoa-based spaghetti to lasagna sheets made from beans and lentils.
Glocal favourites
The euphoria over Western cuisine is now redirecting itself to more India-centric palates and shared food heritage. This has led to taste explorations along the old Silk Routes, which have made Central Asian, Persian and Turkish the new crowdpullers. Meanwhile, the pan-Asian experience has gone beyond Thai and Malaysian, to Filipino and Vietnamese. Demand for Chinese is now sub-categorised into its provincial favourites — coastal, inland, mainland, central and so on.
AD Singh ticks off Peruvian, gourmet Mexican as the new arrivals. Kalra explains how relatability will define our choices. “The teppanyaki style of cooking gained momentum and popularity because it is very much similar to our own tawa style of preparing dishes. Similarly, we will see the introduction of and prominence of other international cuisines like Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian and lebanese in the coming years.”
Chef Saby’s lavaash introduced Armenian cuisine in 2015. “It is my personal story but then I realised that people were falling back on our colonial heritage, the same way we go for the Portuguese, French and the English. Having said that, it is difficult to predict specific preferences. But I do foresee a play on concepts. For example, one of the chefs whom I met recently said that he was starting something called Bearded Weirdo. It is the story of a bearded guy who travels around the world and puts out the food he has encountered and liked.” The menus now have stories to tell; of the chef, of the concept, of the cuisine. The approach is, therefore, highly intuitive and sensorial.
FUSION OR PROGRESSIVEIJ
The fusion experiments have clearly overstretched themselves to justify even the oddest mixes. This is one of the reasons why it is waning as a concept though the masters still rely on it as a selling proposition. Says Vineet Wadhwa, Founder and CEO of Fio Cookhouse & Bar, “Fusion food is a culmination of a lot of culinary traditions and flavours. Maybe it has lost out now due to the excesses of innovation and confusion. Trends come and go. So there may be a dip now but it will reinvent itself with a twist.” Even Executive Sous Chef, Taj Mahal Hotel, Shivan Khanna, believes that “as long as people from different cultures, places and traditions continue to interact, their culinary worlds will continue to blend. This is needed for new concepts and flavour profiles”.
The downside, in the Indian context, has probably been due to the fact that “traditional Indian” cuisine is getting lost or losing focus. “The demand for traditional Indian fare, or other cuisines in their authentic form, is still equal to what it was a few years ago. It is just that modern presentation of classic dishes, using varied techniques and styles that lend visual appeal but do not tamper the taste, will take centrestage in times to come,” reasons Kalra.
He is right. Because chef Manish Mehrotra’s Indian Accent started in 2008 but did not take off till 2012. Gaggan also did contemporary Indian and used molecular gastronomy. “But what people forgot was that Gaggan was strong on food. The paraphernalia was there to make the food exciting. Those who followed him in the gush were caught as their food was indifferent. That’s why fusion or contemporary food lost a bit of credibility,” explains Chef Saby.
Doorstep services
Takeaways have always been about comfort and convenience. Now they qualify to be affordable luxuries what with exotic kitchen hubs ladling out slurping delicacies of both world and home cuisine.
There is a growing demand among diners for speed and delivery, and food service operators have set in operational adjustments to meet consumer expectations. “Diners are looking for exceptional experiences not just at a premium restaurant but also in the confines and comfort of their own homes and thus, a concept such as gourmet food delivery has emerged. The components of most gourmet dishes are complex and are presented with innovative plating so as to increase its aesthetic appeal while delighting the palate with its gourmet flavours. If restaurants can manage to recreate the visual appeal of a gourmet dish, as it is presented in the restaurant, and offer a premium fine dining experience outside the confines of five star hotels, or standalones, this trend is likely to gain traction,” predicts Kalra.
Wadhwa believes the gourmet food delivery trend will stay as we beat deadlines on our consoles and eliminate the need for cooking, cleaning, preparing or grocery-shopping. Perhaps, this is the reason why Mohit Bhatia, founder of food start-up let’s Chef, stretched the concept a bit further and decided to deliver DIY kits of your favourite kind of cuisine. “let’s Chef started out of a realisation that there is a huge gap in India when it comes to having an affordable gourmet experience. Eating out is expensive for most people and cooking yourself at home requires a lot of planning, searching ingredients and then making sure the recipe is perfect. With our kits you can forget the planning, shopping and just enjoy the fun part of cooking. What’s more, you can be the stakeholder of the food you eat. Without too much fuss.”
Being a new concept, it took some time for acceptance. “We started with three orders a day and now we do 40. So far our most successful recipes have been Thai. We also thought people who have cooks won’t order from us. But people want variety on their table. Our recipes are so well explained that anyone can cook. Half of our customers have cooks.”
Bhatia estimates a market size of Rs 34,000 crore which initially would be concentrated to the top eight to 10 cities of India. The online food ordering business in India is in its nascent stage, but witnessing exponential growth. The organised food business in India is worth $ 48 billion, of which food delivery is valued at $15 billion. Investment in food startups, which mainly include food ordering apps, has increased by 93 per cent to $130.3 million, comprising 17 deals till September 2015, as against only five deals in 2014.
But there is more to the food revolution. You can play gourmet chef within the convenience of your home. While ITC Hotels has had its iconic Dal Bukhara and more Dum Pukht hits, which you can just heat and eat, there are newer players in the market, who want to extend their footprint by bringing the flavours served in the restaurant, bottled. For those who start drooling at the thought of Peri Peri chicken at Nando’s, you can recreate the flavour inside the confines of your home. Served in four variations, lemon and herb, medium, hot and extra extra hot, the sauce, which is manufactured in Holland, can be snapped up from multi-brand stores so you can enhance the dishes. “The good thing about the Nando’s Peri Peri is that it is not just about the chillies but also about the flavours. They tick in your brain. We didn’t have to try hard for acceptance and build a restaurant-to-home connect,” says Sumeet Yadav, CEO, Nando’s India.
And there is a reason why the Nando’s team decided to extend their reach beyond the restaurant space. “Every month, 50,000 customers walk into the Nando’s restaurants and they are exposed to the flavours. Now they can carry it back. What it’s doing for me is that while now I am restricted to 12 locations and 50,000 customers, this increases my reach to five lakh customers,” he says. Adds David Care, Director International Business Development at Nando’s, “It is a constant brand.” The Nando’s team sees a reason why this is bound to be a success. “Indians cook at home more than any other country across the world. However, things are changing as families are becoming smaller and nuclear families where women work,” says Yadav.
PlATTER FUll OF SURPRISES
The future looks — well, like the future. Think out-of-the-box concepts, ultra modern presentation and use of latest techniques — all of these and more will take the dining experience a few notches further.
Says Kalra, “Gone are the days when large portions would get people excited. The scales are shifting towards small plates and the concept of tapas-style menus where diners get to experience a large array of the restaurant’s specialities, while not filling themselves to the brim.” There are many restaurants which have started adopting the trend in recent times and Kalra feels that it will extend further in both the Indian as well as the international restaurant space.
There will be a surge in chef-run and chef-focused food service establishments. “It is here that the concept of progressive cuisine that uses modern culinary techniques like molecular gastronomy and ultra-modern presentations will introduce a sense of surprise and be the norm of the 2020s,” he adds. There will be a focus on wellness and health. As Chef Pogakula says, “Organic food with legal stabilisation, packed, healthy food has the largest growth potential in terms of retail. Yoghurt and yoghurt-based diets are going to enrich diets of the future. Super foods like quinoa, blueberry, kale and salmon will be much in demand.” This will help fuel packed foods enter the market.
According to a recent sectoral report published by IBEF (Indian Brand Equity Foundation), food has been one of the largest segments in India’s retail sector, valued at $490 billion in 2013. The Indian food retail market is expected to reach Rs 61 lakh crore ($894.98 billion) by 2020.
Kalra says food will be a continuously evolving business that will need intensive monitoring. “The biggest trend, which is encouraging for restaurateurs and chefs, is the growing need for innovation, which largely stems from the well-travelled, modern age diners’ hunger for experimentation, eagerness to sample contemporary renditions of classic dishes and flavours, and willingness to explore newer experiences in the dining space.” Dining, he feels, has become the primary source of entertainment.
With an increase in allergies, gluten-free food is one more aspect that’s gaining popularity. “liquid nutrition or raw chef food is a relatively new term in the market and gaining its part of popularity,” says Pogakula.
Of course the markets are also set to grow drastically. Chef Khanna sums it up: “According to reports, India’s organised food services market is expected to grow in double digits over the next five years on the back of changing consumption habits. And popular international food chains are looking to foray in Indian markets. Our home-grown ones have already taken off.”
Yadav has the last word. “The industry will grow but we need good serious people who know food. We do not need fly-by-night operators who encash a trend. To be successful in this industry, you need to be hungry for the long term.”
(With Saimi Sattar and Unnati Joshi)