Without a doubt, Food & Beverage plays an important role in any wedding celebration. More so for an Indian wedding, where delectable flavours come together in elaborate settings to elevate the sense and the overall experience for the guests.
Good food has known to touch a chord with many taking them back to fond memories of their hometown or even their childhood. Food at Destination Indian Weddings has evolved over the years and is a full-grown industry in itself with world class catering companies leading the foray.
Our Director, Rahul Kumar has led Vivaah Celebrations to be recognized as one of the most renowned and leading wedding planners for destination weddings. With Big Fat Indian Weddings slowly making its comeback after a challenging couple of years, Vivaah Celebrations is always on the forefront to deliver exemplary wedding planning and management services to the top and elite families globally.
As they say ‘With great power comes great responsibility’; the experienced team at Vivaah Celebrations ties in together all aspects of the weddings and the finer details to provide the clients and their guests with a wholesome memorable wedding experience. This most definitely has key focus on the Food & Beverage offering including the trending Culinary Art to satisfy the aesthetics of how the food is presented and served.
We spoke to some of the leading experts in the field of Food & Beverage who have catered for large events and they proudly have in their list of clients, some of the top renowned business families, industrialists and celebrities.
One of the leading food specialists in India and the Middle East – Mr. Sanjay Vazirani of Foodlink (www.foodlink.in) shared his views about how food has evolved at weddings celebrations.
“We have been blessed to be the caterer of choice for esteemed clients such as Deepika Padukone & Ranveer Singh, Ambani family, Bachchan family, Shilpa Shetty et al. I can’t divulge specific details due to our non-disclosure agreements, but it gives me great satisfaction to deliver memorable gourmet experiences for them. The strong influence of culture, tradition and hence regional delicacies and traditional sweets continue to remain the same and so does the flair and eye for excellence that Foodlink promises, while the rest including the overall offering and approach keeps evolving based on trends.
For instance, In the current time, modern diets need to be considered while designing the menu. Single-serve packages/Mono Portions are a trend to stay. Plant-based eating is on the rise. With COVID being a major factor in play, there is a move towards the main essence which is QUALITY FOOD – with less extravagance. You can say Minimalism & “Less is More” is the new mantra. A robust and updated ‘Food Safety Management System’ and appointment of trained hygiene officers are a must-have. Interactive Live Cooking Stations are the need of the hour and are fast developing to add more dimensions to them to please all senses.
What’s constant is that we continuously strive to reinvent ourselves according to the existing trends and guest preferences. While we have specialty chefs in our chain of restaurants and banquets, if a guest requests a cuisine or dish that is not in our domain, we are sent on special training programs to develop the required skills. We also collaborate with other Chefs in different parts of the globe and learn from their inputs and experience.”
Known as the guru of fusion and quirky, Rahul Sajnani of MOSHI (www.moshiuae.com) has entered the market in a much unique manner by fusing traditional flavours with local delicacies. We asked him What inspired him and how his out of the box offering has been received by young couples as part of their wedding events menu.
“I always noticed there was a gap in the market and people wouldn’t eat/try new items easily. For example – Sushi. The mindset of it being served with raw ingredients kept people away from it. We changed that perspective by adding unique fillings / flavours into it. This made our brand stand out and differentiate from the rest.
We then started tweaking other dishes combining it with a couple of cuisines which people avoid eating or trying. Moreover, we wanted to bring some fun element into the food. Sushi gave us a boost and made us want to explore more cuisines and since then we have been known for our unique concoctions.
Young couples and teenagers are the easiest way through which our products are marketed as they are the ones looking for different concepts and are ready to try newer dishes. It has been a great hit amongst the younger generation and eventually they would bring their loved ones and families to try our unique flavours.
Once we became part of their daily cravings, we had an easier way in to becoming a part of their occasions such as weddings, birthday, anniversaries etc.”
Creating a distinguished experience for discerning clients is Food Inc’s (www.mmmbox.ae) priority and forte. Led by renowned Food & Beverage expert, Varun Tuli, the catering experience that their clients enjoy is unparalleled. We asked Varun what are the demands and expectations of clients from Food and Beverage at a wedding?
“All of them demand a truly unique experience and we leave no stone unturned to exceed their expectations.
We craft a bespoke menu in collaboration with our clients. Our expansive repertoire helps us ensure that each celebration catered by Food Inc is a distinctive experience with an abundance of cuisines. Be it for intimate gatherings or celebrations that bring thousands of people together, no two of our menus are alike.
From starter islands, dessert bars, conveyor belts, flying buffet service, sit-down dinners to flying in specialised international chefs, we are always willing to assimilate a multitude of innovative concepts to make an indelible mark on our client’s guests. We conceptualise various themed live counters, fun and unique stations, pop-up restaurants and menus that are one of a kind.
We design a culinary carnival with extraordinary experiences that ensure the celebration is extravagant and entertaining. Even while crafting thousands of dishes in a single day, we ensure that each one is a gastronomic affair for our clients and their guests. It has been thrilling to create a Thali that encompasses an entire country with chaat from Benaras, curries & bread from Punjab, Awadh and Kerala, rice delicacies from Hyderabad that ends with delectable desserts from Bengal or curate a Dastarkhwan under the starlight sky set against the dunes of Jaisalmer. Over the past few years, we have created avocado bars, tiffin stations for South Indian cuisine, teppanyaki pop-ups, detox bars, stations by renowned regional delicacy vendors, pizza acrobat counters, edible helium balloon stations and pop-up restaurants like Indian Accent, Yum Yum Cha and tbsp with a curated set menu.
We hope that our passion for bringing food and people together shines through in our scrumptious food, spectacular food display and splendid service.”
To curate culinary experiences for your destination wedding celebrations, connect with Vivaah Celebrations on info@vivaahcelebrations.com
