FOOD/ 2016 SPECIAL ...............The Year of the Big Churn

 The Year of the Big Churn





Modern Indian food will need to press the refresh button, business and creative muscles will be tested...
Plus top chefs will have a career-defining year.
Here's what to expect of 2016

Of the several, unexpectedly silly dishes that I encountered in 2015, top honours could perhaps go to: 1. Pork belly, deep fried, sprinkled with what can only be dubbed chaat masala! 2. “Modern“ Manchurian-rice, as if smart restau rants really needed to borrow this from van-chinese that still does it better 3. Lobster vada pao. In a super-luxury environ. Because batter-frying a delicate (and expensive) ingredient and sandwiching it in bread layered with garlic-y potatoes, of course, makes sense! And then there was that pasta vada pao, described as “healthy, fusion“, on a food channel. But TV doesn't count in the real world of food, does it?
Like the year-end festive spirit, and well, pollution, experimentation has been all around us in 2015. From the luxe to the mass, no restaurant retail is complete without “modern“, “contemporary“ or “fusion“ takes on older, popular dishes. What had begun as a brave new trend (that made it to all my New Year forecasts for the last 3 years) seems tired and doddering as we bid adieu to '15. Dishes that had seemed fresh and “quirky“ on restaurant menus -vada pao, pork belly, Indian tacos -got so pervasive at metoo establishments this year that if I eat one more of those, I will break into helpless sobs. Which is why, it makes sense to bet your aces on 2016 as being the year of change. The year of the Big Churn. A year that will separate the wheat from the chaff -real talent from pretenders. After all, when things reach a nadir, some brave soul always feels compelled to break through the clutter with fresh ideas and execution(s)! We hope this is exactly what some of our talented chefs will now do.

Here's my take on what to look out for in 2016:

1 New Vocab for “Contemporary“ Indian:

Like the New Nordic, breathing its last, “contemporary“ Indian too has bottomed out. What began as an example of genuine inventiveness at restaurants like the Indian Accent, became “desi chic“ as cool bar food, has now reached a mass, quick service restaurants (QSR) level. The wheel has come a full circle. Contemporarised street food has gone back to the streets and not always in intelligent ways. Fashionable restaurants therefore need to find a new language. 2016 will possibly see some of these attempts -with clutter-breaking reinvented classical recipes, fresh ideas for presentations and a focus on flavours and detailing rath er than on gimmickry.

2 Casual, Contemporary Asian:

2015 saw the beginnings of tuna izza, pork belly tacos and baos, sushi burgers, easy bowls of ramen and ex periments with fusion get into (up scale) bar formats. Similar contem porarised Japanese fare, till now, was only available at more expensive hotel restaurants. 2016 will see more of these bar-meets-casual Asian restaurants spring up.

3 New Superfoods:

Healthy, locally-sourced ingre dients will take more of a centrestage in keeping with trends abroad too. With the upwardly-mobile, middle class now spending more than ever on “trendy healthy“ foods, expect a surge in availability and sales of everything from wonder bean-juice from the Middle East that helps you shed 1-2 kg of weight after drinking a single portion to the gluten-free Teff and banana flour.

4 Smoked Drinks:

Watch out for artisanal cock tails, created with fresh ingredients from the kitchen as chefs and bartenders interact more. Mixology continues to kick up a storm in metropolitan bars. You may not appreciate all the strange presentations that come your way. But yeah, the smoked ones are always hot!

5 Small Businesses Gain Muscle:

Two young girls making and selling dark chocolate in Gurgaon? A smart entrepreneur delivering salads to offices? Vegetarian gummy bear becoming a point of discussion at IIMAhmedabad? Bring them on, please.

6 Pop-ups and Food Events:

Inevitable since “events“ is the easiest way to monetise food without really delving into food! Only, please don't call everything a pop-up!

7 Food Groups Lose Relevance?

If food tech start ups are haemorrhaging, so are foodie groups on social media. Online communities (or their founders) have increasingly been seeking offline business formats to sustain themselves. Members, meanwhile, seem to have been reduced to a rabble--squabbling over restaurants and more. 2016 will see increasing disenchantment with these mini-dramas as watchers from sidelines stop watching. Restaurateurs have finally begun to call them out and there's at least some questioning on how much do they really influence business!

8 Shut and Open Cases:

2015 saw a host of restau rant companies go on expansion sprees thanks to private equity funding and therefore commitments to open a certain number of outlets in a certain time frame. Private investors -everyone with available real estate to available cash -seemed to have emerged out of the woodworks to jump into the business of food and beverage. The flip side of the restaurant boom has been that many establishments have been lying empty. 2016 will see a shakedown. Only those that can create distinct brand personas will survive--through their food, experience and marketing.

9 Make in India Goes Abroad:

One of the biggest stories in the food business we will be reporting in 2016 will be about the fate of Indian restaurant brands going global. All the big restaurant companies are now headed out -from AD Singh's Olive Bar and Kitchens to Zorawar Kalra's Massive Restaurants and Rohit Khattar's Old World Hospitality. Individual chefs like Delhi-based Kunal Kapur and Bengaluru-based Abhijeet Saha have already been looking at the outside market.

:: Anoothi Vishal

ETM27DEC15