Indian Culinary Forum in association with Galgotias University – School of Hospitality and TagTaste recently conducted a knowledge summit at Pride Plaza Hotel, Aero city, Delhi. The theme of the summit was ‘Building brands through Taste, Touch, Sight, Smell & Sound’. The event was attended by chefs, sensorial specialists, product tasters, entrepreneurs, and industry stalwarts. The summit provided with an opportunity for anyone to gain industry insights, understand the nuances of beverage tasting and enhance their professional network.

Chef Davinder Kumar commenced the summit by lighting the lamp and his welcome remarks. This was followed by the inaugural address and presentation of memento by Prof (Dr) Onkar Nath Mehra, dean – School of Hospitality, Galgotias University and a keynote address by guest of honour Anil Bhandari – chairman, AB Smart Concepts.

The first panel discussion of the day started with the theme, “how well is the food industry leveraging the sensory framework?” The panel was moderated by Raj Prity Sabharwal – sensory head at TagTaste, and the participants included Dr Sudhir Tamne, Sumit Nair, Chef Gunjan Goela, Chef Julia Carmen De Sa, Rahul Ganapathy, and Chef Bill Marchetti.

The panel members shared insights on how their respective brands are using sensory aspects in their products. For example, the function of papad in Indian food is to bring the crispiness and sound in our eating experience. When Burger King introduced potato chips in one of their burgers to bring the same effect, it became an instant hit. Indian food culture is immensely interlinked with the sensory aspects. In a way, just the study of our own culture, tradition, and wisdom of our mothers and grandmothers can help us in creating a truly memorable product.

This was followed by the second panel discussion of the day and an open house Q&A session of students with successful/ entrepreneurs chefs of India. The panel consisted of Chef Abhijit Saha, Chef Gaurav Wadhwa, Chef Saurabh Agarwal, and Chef Sanjay Agarwal and students from Galgotias University, NIFTEM, Jamia Hamdard, Lady Irwin, and many other colleges were part of the session. The discussion opened with an introduction to the changing landscape of the F&B industry in India and how the millennial and Gen-Z are rewriting the rules of engagement with F&B brands. Thereafter, the panel enlightened the students on how to prepare themselves for the industry during their college days.

The highlight of this edition of the knowledge summit was the beverage sensory workshop in which Dr Binod Maitin and Jaspal Singh Sabharwal, CEO, TagTaste shared the nuances of beverage tasting with the audience. Such workshops can help the budding tasters in understanding the art and science behind F&B tasting, and the brands to get real-time feedback from the panel of experts present in the conference.

The event was concluded by Chef Vivek Saggar giving a vote of thanks along with mementos to all the industry stalwarts.