Pushing Her Creative Boundaries

In the recent past, Bakery Review had an interesting interaction with Rehana Parveen, the Pastry Chef, The St.Regis Mumbai. In her present tenure, she is handling a team of 22 in the hotel’s pastry and bakery sections, which she is heading.

- 

Earlier she has had worked with Pullman, Dubai, The Westin Pune Koregaon Park, Holiday Inn Resort Goa. Menu design and engineering, detailed analytical skills, time, money and manpower management, training, mentoring and team building are some of her professional strengths.

The interaction provided many new insights on the nature and prevailing trends in India’s bakery and confectionery industry. The excerpts of the interview follow:

What induced you to take up baking and pastry making as a profession?

I became Pastry Chef by an accident rather than by choice. From there on I got hooked to pastry making and bakery because of their scientific and artistic dimensions. I find work in this realm to be therapeutic for me.

Briefly describe the creative joys and challenges of your career. What is/are the aspect/s you enjoy the most in your present job?

The biggest creative joy in my profession comes when after many failures the dish turns into a real success; reflecting my passion, philosophy and journey in the process.

The freedom to push the scientific and artistic boundaries of cooking, without which evolution in this field is not possible, is the biggest perk in my current job.

What are the ongoing trends in India’s bakery and confectionery industry? Kindly briefly elaborate on them