From Canapes To Kebabs

Old-school multi-cuisine buffets take a back seat and beautiful traditional food platters come to the fore to dot the big fat Indian wedding menu.

- Neha Prasada

At a wedding lunch hosted in Mumbai, rows of green banana leaves serve as a canvas for an authentic Malayali meal, just like it would at a traditional sadhya. While a modest menu would usually serve a choice of 20 dishes, the wedding banquet can go up to 40 heritage recipes, aimed at giving guests a meal to remember. Favourites like thoran, pachadi, errisery, koothukari, rasam, palada pradhaman, payasam form part of the elaborate menu. The brief is simple—to curate a dining experience that celebrates the bride and groom’s Malayali heritage.

Stepping away from the multi-cuisine concept that has dominated Indian weddings for over a decade, specially curated regional meals are the latest way to go for the grand wedding feast. This rediscovery of local cuisines and heritage recipes only enhances a celebratory feast and is in sync with the union of two individuals and families.

THE REFINED LOCAVORE

“The demand for Indian menus has always been there but now it is getting more focused and less generic,’’ says Marut Sikka, a Delhi-based caterer who has curated star-studded banquets that include the state dinner hosted by president Prathiba Patil for Barack Obama at Rashtrapati Bhawan, and Amitabh Bachchan’s 70th birthday. As tastes refine, Sikka adds, “Clients don’t just want food from a specific state, but rather from a region of the state where they come from.”