Chef Speak

'Food festivals promote less explored cuisines'

Food festivals should be seen as advertisements for regional cuisines that could be on the verge of dying a slow death, says Shiva Nand Kain, senior executive chef, Jaypee Siddharth. By Sanjeev Bhar

It is believed that need is the mother of all inventions. Shiva Nand Kain alters this idiom in the gourmet zone to present the current scenario. According to him, it is the business need that is forcing re-invention of cuisines that are liked but have not been explored fully.

"Food festivals play a key role in bringing those cuisines to the fore and give them a new lease of life. Such festivals really give a chance to regional and unknown cuisines a much needed push so that people can get the real taste of the country," he says.

Nowadays, people are well travelled and know about the authenticity of food and are ready to experiment with new cuisines. "I strongly feel that only food festivals promote regional cuisines like Banarasi, Himachali and Northeast cuisines or for that matter cuisine from the Konkan region that have great potential along the lines of Asian cuisines like Vietnamese and Burmese," he says.

A strategic plan

Food festivals sound interesting but are a difficult proposition. One has to take numerous factors into consideration before venturing into organising one. The purpose of doing these festivals is to get maximum footfalls and full house through indirect and direct marketing. Kain says, "Factors like cuisine and its potential in context to the local taste buds, level of authenticity that can be achieved, resources available to do it authentically, demand from regular guests, availability of raw materials and cost involved are taken into consideration."

The issue of high food cost related to such an extravaganza gets automatically adjusted if recipes are planned in advance, where cost and proper menu engineering is done based on the previous results, he adds. Yet the real problem lies with R&D and sharing of the resources.

Kain says, "Gone are the days when restaurants were busy 365 days of the year. With the opening of a new restaurant every week, world food festivals play a vital and important role. They play a strategic role of increasing sales during slow times like Navratras. If done with proper planning, they help in building brand value of the restaurants that can translate to regular footfalls."

Jaypee Siddharth recently held Shaam-e-Awadh to celebrate the Lucknow cuisine. "Hotels decide about food festivals a year in advance, and the details are worked out during our chefs and F&B managers meet. The festivals are planned at such periods where the restaurant business is expected to be slow," he says.

Serving dual purposes

The main focus of doing any food festival in a hotel or a restaurant is to undertake a brand building exercise and also increase customer footfalls. "Gourmet festival is a strong branding exercise showcasing authentic and potential cuisines, offering a change for regular guests in terms of ambiance, music and food. It also gives staff a chance to learn authentic cuisine," Kain says. He feels that the chefs who come for these festivals also take cooking classes for the staff, which helps them plan the menu for the next season.

Jaypee Siddharth celebrated the food festival under the able hands of Chef Gulaam Rasool from Lucknow having a vast experience in Awadhi cuisine. Kain explains, "We wanted authentic flavours to be passed on to the customers where they could even interact with the chef. Chef Gulaam has worked with me in Lucknow for three years and there's an undying passion towards the cuisine in him. He might not be a celebrated one but among the chefs with highest caliber for sure."

The deciding factor of an invited chef to oversee the festival is the authenticity of the food he prepares. "We have a team of chefs and managers who visit the region and do their own R&D before finalising all other aspects," he adds.

He also feels that a food festival becomes an important junction that brings unadulterated cuisine and best chefs on a common platform serving a dual purpose, commercially as well as technically (in terms of understanding of the cuisine). "This possibly could be the best advertisement for the dying or less explored cuisines in India that are waiting to be revived," he summed up.