As we usher into a new year, the trends in dining out will witness changes. Giving us an overview of what can be expected is Prem K Pogakula, Executive Chef, The Imperial New Delhi.
“When it comes to new trends in dining out, customers are switching over to healthy and natural food (pesticide-free) more than ever.
People are always on the lookout for wellness alternatives in their food,” says chef Pogakula, who believes that starting 2020, preference for GMO-free ingredients will increase.
“Also, with the urban lifestyle evading our way of eating, I think one-pot meals are something to look forward to and are surely the next big thing. With time crunch and both the partners working in a nuclear family scenario, one-pot meals are super easy, highly nutritious with adequate protein and starch content and are perfect for a quick meal. You can also call it as urban cooking.”
Chef Pogakula believes that 2020 is going to be quite challenging for chefs because of new FSSAI regulations, imposing a lot of restrictions on imported ingredients.
“Owing to that, most chefs will have to curate a menu with the locally available ingredients because sourcing imported essentials or a brand will become increasingly difficult. We have to devise a way to look out for local ingredients because they are consistently available and are tremendous in flavours too.”
Chefs are also working with emotional food along with childhood or regional memories. Food memories specifically offer a magical feeling, transporting you back in time through food.
“Chefs are taking this concept quite seriously now and are researching hard to bring back flavours for their personal kitchens for one to feel truly nostalgic I also believe lost tribal recipes are in the process of being explored to a great extent,” he says.
Discovering new cuisines
Food connoisseurs are always on the lookout for old and global recipes as they possess simple and straight flavours.
“People prefer classic recipes them over fusion cuisine. Only experimented cuisine calls for fusion food on your palate. It can never ever replace or take over the classic cuisine.” The signature old and often lost cooking techniques are of great significance as well.
For instance the cooking process in one of the tribes of Rajasthan where they made pits in the ground and cooked their meat was an intrinsic cooking method which is still prevalent in the state.
So, according to chef Pogakula, 2020 will see the revival of such old classic cooking techniques and recipes with presentation inspired from the bygone era.
Marijuana edibles
As more and more countries start to legalise marijuana, the opportunity to experiment with this secret ingredient with its numerous many medicinal benefits, increases. “It’s perhaps the most interesting new ingredient in the market to appear in coming years, with chef are working on new found ways of cooking with cannabis,” he concludes.