In the News

For our salon Lounge Loungewhere we bring together thought leaders for a deep divewe look at the challenges of sourcing in the fine-dining space

(Clockwise, from left) Aishwarya Nair Mathew, Gauri Devidayal, Jehangir Lawyer, Parveen Chander Kumar, Manu Chandra, and Aditya Raghavan. Photo: Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint

By Divya Kohli, By Komal Sharma

In India, the food we ate and cooked was always linked with local biodiversity, regional food habits and changing seasons. Over the last decade and a half, a boom in the fine-dining sector led us towards homogeneity in ingredients and a standardization of menus across generic European café-style restaurants. Now, a new generation of chefs, hoteliers and importers are devising ways to again make food culturally relevant and sustainable.

This has led to the rise of niche producers, new-age farmers and artisanal cheese–makers, all of whom are part of this burgeoning gourmet-food economy. Our panellists discussed one of the big issues this has given rise to: how to effectively straddle authenticity, sustainability and pricing with regard to both local and imported produce. Magazine Street Kitchen in Mumbai’s Byculla area, an experimental food venue run by Gauri Devidayal and Jay Yousuf that hosts chef’s tables and cooking workshops, provided a fitting backdrop. The kitchen was abuzz with prep for a Thanksgiving dinner and inviting smells of caramelized onions, melting chocolate and fresh bread filled the air. Edited excerpts from the discussion:

Lawyer: In the fine-dining space, you have certain limitations, at least when you are looking at finished products, so whether you are looking at cheese or charcuterie, it becomes impossible to replicate the same items locally.

Does that mean there is a greater focus on quality ingredients now?

Lawyer: The elephant in the room is price. Nobody wants to pay the prices for quality ingredients even if they have all the right kinds of certification in place. As a purveyor of imported seafood which is sustainable and line-caught, I am paying more but the truth is most people don’t give a damn and the economies of scale are just not there. And especially if someone is trying to do a similar thing in India with quality ingredients, the prices are so high that it just makes no commercial sense for me as I can import a similar ingredient at a cheaper price. It is a similar case with respect to quality, especially when I speak to the purchase officer in a hotel and have to explain that a more expensive 36-month-old Parmigiano-Reggiano that I have tastes better and only needs to be used in small quantities. However, he is not a chef and the only thing he is bothered about is the per kilo price.

We are a country with a long coastline and numerous rivers. How easy is it to craft a menu with only domestic catch?

Lawyer: So I buy octopus from Japan and my supplier there sources it from India and Pakistan. He actually asks me why I don’t get it directly from here. And I have tried but I just can’t get it here, simply because no one is willing to sell their produce locally because of the export perks given to suppliers.