“Do not complicate it. Don’t do too much. Stick to the basics,” he warns. “Majority of the guests should relate with that food. In a bid to impress people, caterers often put everything on the menu. They will add cuisines that are so international and 80% of the guests are not able to relate with it, because people also want comfort food. They want to identify the food as something that they can relate to. According to me, only 20% of people are adventurous and want to try new things. When they walk to a buffet, if they know a particular dish, then acceptability is much higher. But, if they do not know, or if they haven’t tried something, the chances of them trying it are very rare,” Sanjay reveals.
Sometimes demands seem impractical with asks for unending bespoke buffets and more. “A bride and a groom will ask for “something that has never happened before”. But again, you have to make a correlation with the guests who are going to be eating. So, we always guide the client that you are deciding for 998 guests—if it’s a 1,000-people party—so we also have to keep them in mind while calculating the menu.”
Opt for seasonal ingredients
Foodlink has used ponkh from Gujarat, petite green peas from Jaipur, fresh truffle from Europe (with variants changing as per summer and winter months), whole spices from Kerala, long grain rice from Dehradun and Haryana, Punjab’s desi ghee, Scotland’s salmon and fresh oysters from France. “Keep seasonality in the menus because it is proven that food which is in season, is much more economical, much more nutritious and much more good looking than food that is forcefully non-seasonal. If it’s frozen, or if it’s preserved, then it’ll not have nutritional value, it’ll not have a good look, it’ll not have the right colour and it’ll not have the right taste after you cook,” Vazirani explains.
Make sure there is no culture clash
When culture marries cuisine, you have the perfect match and the results are magical. Go ahead and pick your genres, but ensure they are compatible with each other. “The genre of food, the region of food… everything has to be taken into account… For example, if you are doing Goan food, you must know how to blend it with Kerala food. And then you should know how to blend it with the North Indian food,” Vazirani explains. “Cuisines and ingredients should complement each other well. You cannot have a Paneer Makhani and a Paneer Bhurji and a Paneer Palak on the same table, right?”. Vazirani says that placing dishes of similar textures and hues adjacent to each other is unforgivable. “You eat with your eyes,” he says. “Then obviously the colours, the hues, the textures, the feel… everything has to be kept in mind when compiling a menu”.
Check for spice
Guests do get teary-eyed at weddings, but it should be for the right reasons. It’s no secret that Indians love their spice, but, when you’re choosing for a crowd of people, including guests from diverse cultures, the food needs to reflect a uniform flavour profile that suits the average human palate. “In Hyderabad, we use the mirchi which the Hyderabadis use, the ones with a higher component of spice. If we go to Gujarat, then we know what to do too,” he explains. Striking a balance of flavours, especially for intercultural marriages, is a delicate art.
