Lounge
Drama and stories to fire up food in 2025
Summary
Chefs have emerged as the face of dining out with a focus on local ingredients, a trend that is likely to continue next year
In 2024, food dominated conversations and social media feeds with some trends like the Dubai chocolate bar and butter boards making headlines. Creativity—in terms of culinary experiments, use of ingredients and food presentation—and collaborations among Indian and international restaurants were some dominant themes. Chefs, restaurateurs and culinary experts tell Lounge about the food trends that stood out in 2024 and what to expect in the new year.
“For me, this was the year of chef collaborations. Almost any event that came up was either a collab-cook-up or a collab pop-up," says Nooresha Kably, chef-owner of modern Japanese restaurant Izumi in Mumbai and Goa. A recent collaboration that Kably was part of, along with chefs Doma Wang, Mythrayie Iyer, Vanshika Bhatia and Pooja Dhingra, was The Power Play by Masters of Marriott Bonvoy and Culinary Culture held this month in Pune and Bengaluru. O’Pedro and The Bombay Canteen in Mumbai and The Indian Accent in Delhi and Mumbai were some of the popular restaurants that hopped on to the trend.
“We did some incredible collaborations from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo, Bangkok, and Perth, along with an exciting series of partnerships across India. Each collaboration has been a unique and rewarding experience," says Rijul Gulati, head chef, Indian Accent Mumbai.
In Bengaluru, The Conservatory seemed to have a collab-dinner running almost every other weekend, and launched an “International Underdogs" series in November with international chefs conducting short-term residences hereon. “We hosted well-known travelling chefs Alexandre Aziza and Etienne Dupuy from France, and chefs Aaron Phua and Aaron Khor of Fifty Tales noodle bar in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia," says Akhila Srinivas, founder of The Conservatory.
Explaining the reason for the popularity of collaborations, Gulati says, “Today’s diners crave experiences that are unique and bridge diverse culinary worlds. At the same time, chefs and restaurants are increasingly open to stepping out of their comfort zones."
Also read: Flavoured snow and best meals of 2024
INGREDIENTS FIRST
For Kably, this year was also about experimenting with ingredients, which was spurred by an educated audience. “Our patrons are familiar with Japanese food and flavours and so while creating the menu this year, we decided to explore new flavours too," says Kably, citing signature Izumi dish salmon konbujime as an example. “We took salmon sashimi and cured it with kombu (a seaweed variety) to get an enhanced flavour. We also worked with ingredients like miso being made in India by a brand like Brown Koji Boy by Prachet Sancheti," she shares.
Much like Sancheti’s artisanal fermentation brand, the steady growth of independent brands and suppliers specialising in indigenous produce is a key factor pushing chefs to dream up new dishes. Kolkata-based chef Doma Wang, who recently opened the Tibetan-Chinese speciality restaurant Popo’s by Blue Poppy Kolkata along with her daughter Sachiko Seth, says, “At Popo’s, our yak meat and mushrooms come from suppliers in Arunachal Pradesh who produce them in small batches."
Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal, culinary consultant & curator, and author of the Godrej Food Trends Report, backs Kably and Wang. Speaking over the phone from Dehradun, she says, “Whether it’s a chef like Prateek Sadhu putting Himalayan ingredients on the plate or consumers looking for stories behind the food they are eating, ingredient-forward food is going to be a trend that we will see in 2025 and beyond."
CHEFS AT THE FOREFRONT
If there was one theme that stood out for Mythrayie Iyer, head chef at Farmlore, Bengaluru, it was the emergence of chefs as the faces of their restaurants. A growing list of chefs across India, including Eat Naru’s Kavan Kuttappa and Naar’s Prateek Sadhu, have the clout to pull customers to their restaurants.
“There was a time when people would go, ‘Can I talk to the manager?’ Today, you don’t need a manager because the chefs have moved from behind the scenes to the front," says Iyer. Next year, she speculates that the open-flame cooking style—popular in New York, London and Stockholm—could catch up in India.
2024 was a year of peak nostalgia for Pooja Dhingra, founder of Le15 bakery chain, and it played out in old-school-inspired desserts. Dhingra created her now-famous Parle G pudding. “We made it a couple of months back. Everybody wanted to eat it because there was so much nostalgia attached to it," she says.
Dhingra predicts that the early months of 2025 may see a rise in desserts that have an element of drama. “Whether it’s a soft-scented cookie or something that pulls apart, desserts that make you want to share it instantly on social media, will be a theme."
STORIES AND EXPERIENCES
The keyword for 2025, according to Munshaw-Ghildiyal is going to be customers pursuing authentic immersive experiences. “This can translate into exploring a city like Lucknow or Delhi through food walks or signing up for programmes like saffron harvesting in Kashmir," says Munshaw-Ghildiyal. “Everyone’s seeking experiences because, ultimately, we are all looking for stories to cherish for a lifetime."
