A bamboo construction rises skyward, impressed by the numerous headgears of Arunachal Pradesh’s tribal communities. Discarded fishing nets repurposed into partitions enclose a house that echoes the uncooked allure of Kerala’s toddy retailers. Elsewhere, a visible feast of Himalayan foraged substances involves life on hand-painted tableware. Walking by way of ‘The Gathering’ is like entering into a residing art work, the place meals, structure and storytelling merge into an immersive expertise.
We are in New Delh’s Travancore Palace the place 9 of India’s most celebrated chefs have come collectively this weekend for ‘The Gathering’, a meals expertise not like another. This one isn’t a pop-up about showcasing signature dishes however about crafting completely new menus and idea tables, constructed from the bottom up, in collaboration with artists and designers throughout disciplines.
“As a chef, you often talk about provenance, seasonality and history, but this is about creating something new,” explains Prasad Ramamurthy, author and co-curator of ‘The Gathering’. He provides that this brainchild of Sushmita Sarmah’s, co-founder of occasion planning firm CAB Experiences and competition director of ‘The Gathering’, is about making an attempt one thing loopy, about “challenging chefs, to push them beyond their comfort zones and give them a platform where they could express something they’d never attempted before”.
Culinary experiments
Set outdoor, the occasion options 9 individually designed pop-up ‘restaurants’, every 50×20 sq.ft., and reimagined by artists. For occasion, chef Viraf Patel’s menu, titled ‘The Last Harvest’, imagines a future the place rising sea ranges have swallowed a lot of the land, forcing humanity to rethink sustenance.
Patel has teamed up with sculptor Alex Davis, whose large-scale water-inspired installations set the stage for a thought-provoking eating house. At this sales space, 20 diners per sitting get to style dishes corresponding to Solu Kumbhu and White Bean Hummus paired with stinging nettle crackers, and for the second course, Savoury Choux and Ocean Fish Mousse, that includes deep sea mackerel floss and and brine-preserved kelp mud.
Chef Auroni Mookerjee celebrates the paddy area in his ‘Terra Firma’ the place all substances for his third course, together with shellfish and wild fungi, are from a village pond or round it. Meanwhile, architect Vinu Daniel, well-known for reworking plastic bottles and waste into award-winning buildings, has constructed chef Regi Mathew’s Kerala-inspired ‘The Modern Day Toddy Shop’. An immersive setting for Mathew’s common hyper-local menu, that includes staples corresponding to Kappa Kodampuli Fish Curry.
Chef Prateek Sadhu, recognized for his deep connection to the Himalayas, companions with artist Aradhana Seth to recreate the essence of his culinary philosophy. His pop-up, ‘A Table in the Mountains’, takes inspiration from the rugged terrain and foraging traditions. Guests are served dishes corresponding to Askalu, a delicate stability of kinu marmalade and smoked cheese, and Himachali trout, cooked with turmeric, coconut, and radish.
For these in search of distinction and provocation, chef Gresham Fernandes’ ‘Contrasts & Dualities’, in collaboration with Elsewhere in India, recognized for his or her sport designs and AI experience, presents a menu that performs with notion and sudden pairings. There can be a Radish Waffle with soy-marinated radish and seaweed waffle, alongside Non-Racist Chocolate (porcini and pumpkin), amongst different surprises.
Weddings and occasion design specialist Devika Narain, recognized for her extravagant grazing tables at designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s events, companions with chef Adwait Anantwar for ‘The Darbar of Perception’. Their collaboration options dishes like Silken Textures, a celebration of delicate handcrafted pasta with edible floral components, and Feast & Flow, an interactive grazing expertise.
A courageous, multi-sensory expertise, ‘The Gathering’ pushes the boundaries of eating by mixing culinary artistry with immersive storytelling. But past its avant-garde collaborations, it’s additionally redefining what diners are keen to pay for the extraordinary. Tickets are priced at ₹8,000 and ₹12,000. “People aren’t just paying for food,” says Ramamurthy. “They’re paying for a moment in time that will never be recreated.”
A future of shared journeys
The rise of chef-focused festivals, and plenty of of them sharing a kitchen, is a testomony to the rising sense of neighborhood within the culinary world. Once fiercely aggressive, the business is now seeing collaboration take centrestage. Take, for instance, Mathew’s ‘India’s Culinary Odyssey’ in Chennai final 12 months, the place 10 nationwide chefs got here collectively to create a particular meal ticketed at ₹1 lakh per head.
Chef Regi Mathew (centre) and the crew behind ‘India’s Culinary Odyssey’ in Chennai final 12 months.
The occasion noticed a few of India’s prime names like Hussain Shahzad, Avinash Martins, Auroni Mookerjee and Vinesh Johny step into the kitchen with no egos, no competitors. “The energy in the kitchen was unbelievable,” recollects Mathew. “We cheered every time a course went out, we plated each other’s dishes. It was about pure collaboration.” The genial chef’s new restaurant Chatti in New York highlights Kerala’s toddy store menus.
Chef Doma Wang, contemporary off her expertise with ‘The Power Play’, a limited-seating, five-course degustation menu showcased final November, describes the business as we speak as one the place “there is absolutely no competition. We all look after each other”. Held in Pune and Bengaluru, ‘The Power Play’ like Chennai’s ‘Culinary Odyssey’ introduced collectively chefs to craft a full meal, with every course led by a completely different chef. Wang credit Pooja Dhingra, Seefah Ketchaiyo, Nooresha Kably and Vanshika Bhatia amongst many others as chefs she deeply admires, all of whom have performed a position in fostering this newfound spirit of openness.
Chef Doma Wang with friends at ‘The Power Play’ eating expertise final November.
“It’s not like this with everyone,” cautions celebrated chef Prateek Sadhu who groups up with artist and manufacturing designer Aradhana Seth at ‘The Gathering’. “There are genuine friendships, but let’s not pretend the industry is one big happy family. If I admire someone’s work and they’re a good human being, that’s all that matters.” ”
For Fernandes, the change is obvious: “Back in the day, you admired a chef in a magazine and never expected to meet them. Now, I can just call up Alex, Prateek, or Hussain, and ask for help.”
This sense of collective development is why ‘The Gathering’ feels so important because it highlights a neighborhood of chefs open to collaborations. As Ramamurthy explains, “Despite the scale, every chef and artist has fully embraced the collaborative process, trusting each other to create something truly unique. With open dialogue and shared creativity, they’ve come together to bring an untested concept to life.”
So, what’s subsequent? Some chefs, like Sadhu, are specializing in their very own initiatives this 12 months, whereas others, like Patel, are already considering of their subsequent huge collaborative effort. But one factor is definite — the period of the lone chef is fading, making method for a future that’s, at its coronary heart, communal.
The writer is a Pune-based way of life author and editor.
Published – February 19, 2025 10:57 am IST
