Politics Insight News Without Politics
(Pi Bureau)
Virendra Singh Rawat
Business Writer
The Indian foodies are coming of age and experimenting with newer cuisines and food cultures, one of India’s top Celebrity Chef Rakesh Sethi has said.
“Till a few years back, the Indian menu was rather staple, but now people are ready to try out new cuisines, plus there is also increase in the disposable incomes to spend on leisure and exotic food,” he added.
At the same time, the weekend eating out culture is also fast catching up in tier II and III towns of the country and in turn fuelling the explosive growth of domestic hotel and restaurant industry.
“In cities, there is an increasing trend of working couples. In such a scenario, weekend eating out provides such couples quality time to spend with each other over food and drink,” Sethi noted.
He further said the trend of food trucks was also coming in vogue on the lines of western countries and even big hotel chains were launching their regular food vehicles to station at popular joints to cater the man on the street.
On the impetus given to ‘khichdi’ at the recent World Food India Festival 2017 in New Delhi, Sethi said all the countries had their very own ‘semi viscose’ dish as Indian khichdi in their menu, but with distinct names.
“In Spain, it is called Payelle, while in Italy it goes by the name of Rissoto,” he informed.
“Traditionally, khichdi has been considered as a humble dish and associated with sickness and feebleness. However, the focus given at the Food festival would allow people to see the dish in a different and positive context,” Sethi observed.
He was in Lucknow for a food event at the recently launched Radisson Hotel to share his experiences and experiments in the kitchen. Sethi has been a familiar face on Indian TV through his various cookery and food shows across different channels. He is coming up with a couple of new food shows, he said.
