Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

Manipal : “This is an exciting time for food and restaurants in India. For the last couple of decades -- thanks to more people travelling, food media and our understanding of food, the industry has grown tremendously,”said Chef Hussain Shahzad, Executive Chef, O Pedro in Mumbai while interacting with media persons during the two-day Chefs Conclave 2019 being organized by the Department of Culinary Arts, Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration at the Dr TMA Pai auditorium on Thursday. 

The conclave is a platform for students to interact with leading culinary professionals and industry experts and create an awareness of contemporary culinary trends that helps to bridge the gap between industry and academia. The Conclave with theme, “From Roots To Wings, A Culinaires Journey” was inaugurated by Dr H.S. Ballal, Pro Chancellor Manipal Academy of Higher Education.  

The resource persons are: Chef Thomas Zacharias, Executive Chef and partner, The Bombay Canteen, Chef Elizabeth Yorke, Co-creator Edible Issues, Chef Girish Nayak, Pastry Chef, Chef Hussain Shahzad, Executive Chef, O Pedro (all Alumni of WGSHA) and the Industry experts include Dr. Kurush F Dalal, Asst Prof. Archaeology, Culinary Anthropologist, University of Mumbai, Chef Prateek Sadhu, Executive Chef and Co-owner Masque, Ms. Karina Aggarwal, writer in the space of wine & spirits, food, travel and luxury lifestyle,Chaitanya Krishna co-founder of InSeason Fish and Ms. Somya Gupta, Nutritionist and Dietician. 

Chef Hussain giving his views on the prospects of the thousands of students graduating from culinary colleges said, “The industry growth is visible from the explosion of restaurants and food concept across the country. So, it is a really exciting time to get into the industry which offers incredible opportunities for students to grow. But of course, there are challenges which the students should be ready face”. 

Dr. Kurush F Dalal, Asst Prof. Archaeology, Culinary Anthropologist, University of Mumbai elaborating on that said, “There is also the need to understand the eco system. More and more people are moving to cities, and, essentially are nuclear families. Husbands and wives are both working. Which means they are not cooking at home every day. They are eating out much more now than earlier. Therefore, there will be a lot of space for students coming out of culinary institutes to be absorbed”. 

Chef Prateek Sadhu reasoned why so many eating joints are mushrooming all over. He said, “Lot of talk happening these days is about ingredients. And talking of ingredients, we are sitting on a gold mine. Travelling from North to South and East to West, we find that it changes every 100 kilometres. It is like many small countries put together. We talk about European cuisine, it is an amalgamation of so many different cuisines put together. So it is India”. 

“The whole idea of this Chefs Conclave is to talk about regional ingredients, their roles and seasonality. Seasonality plays a very important role when we are trying to develop a menu or we are trying to do research about a particular ingredient. We look at ingredients as to how to play around with it,” he said.