The Hindu Business Line : Victual reality

Having attended one food exhibition and one gourmet gala in rapid succession, inevitably my thoughts turn to how similar events could be arranged in India. The food exhibition was held in Paris; bakery was the main theme — in fact the name was Europain, which implies bread and baking. That was not the only component: there were ice-creams, chocolates and pastries as well.

Because Europain is held every two or three years, it is keenly awaited by exhibitors as well as by visitors who range from overseas food and beverage managers of international hotel chains to tiny neighbourhood patissiers on the lookout for new products to stock. It is hard work walking through 630 stalls, standing in line for samples and waiting to meet company representatives and nobody even tries to see the whole of Europain in a single day. The remarkable thing is that though it is so huge, there is virtually no disruption in traffic whatsoever. When you consider that the largest firms in Europain (like Coupe de Pates to name one example) have a staff of well over 20 persons and 80,000 visitors have been known to register themselves over four days, this is no small feat.

The exhibition is held in the Exhibition Park not far from the airport. It is definitely in the suburbs of Paris, but it is connected to the city by the RER, one of the many lines that are collectively known as the Metro. Judging by the crowds, most visitors enter the exhibition at 10 a.m. and leave at 6 p.m., so there are plenty of stalls and small cafes and restaurants where you can have coffee, snacks or lunch. In addition, of course, champagne flows as freely as water in most of the larger stalls, plus free product samples, so you are never in danger of starving to death while visiting Europain.

The surprise is seeing how well organised the French are when they scout for new markets for their products. Just about every stall, small, medium or large, had at least one person who spoke English and that itself means a huge upheaval for them. The large companies — Valrhona for instance — had export managers who shared the latest news on their company’s entry into India.

After returning home, it is amazing to find how easy it is to keep in touch with the exhibitors. You can download all their email ids from the Web site www.europain.com if you weren’t there and don’t have the official catalogue. What impressed me was the mix of industry biggies and one-man shows. Though the bulk of exhibitors were French, there were those from countries like Japan as well. In fact, the entire ice-cream section was more or less held up by the Italian group, one of whom turned out to be Madhu Sapre’s husband! Players ranged from names that every householder is familiar with like Robot-Coupe to complete unknown names like Chocolat de l’Opera, a niche firm that makes couverture for chocolatiers. Likewise, buyers ranged from biscuit manufacturers from South Africa to our very own Kainaz Messman of Mumbai’s Theobroma.

At one level, though, the World Gourmet Summit (WGS) at Singapore puts even more strain on the city’s logistics than Europain does in Paris. WGS lasts for as much as three weeks every year in April and is held concurrently with Singapore’s largest hospitality trade exhibition, though the two are completely separate entities. WGS is 12 years old and has metamorphosed from a one-week affair to a three-week trans-global attraction where celebrity chefs are as keen to visit Singapore as Peter Knipp Holdings is enthusiastic to invite them. Peter Knipp Holdings, set up by the German ex-chef of the iconic Raffles Hotel, is involved in software for the F&B industry, kitchen and facilities planning and publishing an F&B trade magazine. WGS is probably the single event that has made the company a worldwide force to reckon with.

The premise of WGS is simple enough on the face of it, yet devilishly complicated to execute. During the Summit, Michelin starred chefs are invited to Singapore to cook. They stay in partner hotels (Singapore has a huge pool of deluxe properties) and when they create their fancy dinners, the kitchen staff in the host hotel gets to learn from world-class masters at little cost to the hotel. Singaporeans get to sample food from a Michelin star restaurant at a relatively modest price and the chef becomes known in a continent on the other side of the planet.

This year’s WGS featured pastry demi-god Pierre Herme, Italian lady chef Antonella Ricci, Perigord truffle king, celebrity chef Curtis Stone and Michelin starred lady chef Anne Sophie Pic. What struck me was the sheer number of Singaporeans who welcomed the idea of sampling Perigord truffles at the Grand Hyatt for the price of Singapore $300.

International chef dinners are interspersed with bright young local chefs showcasing their cuisine. Gourmet safaris are an integral part of WGS: a coach-load of guests eat their way through half a dozen different restaurants in one evening, starting with appetizers in one place, driving to another venue, sampling an entrée there, then driving off to a third, and so on.

Peter Knipp, the brain behind the show, says that though he has many offers to take WGS to other parts of the world, he is not sure whether the same format would work outside Singapore. The city-State’s legendary infrastructure means that organisers cannot only predicate gourmet safari dinners finishing in optimal time, but there are always takers for gastronomic events, as well as a plethora of hotels to accommodate visiting chefs and international travellers who home into Singapore for WGS.

The chief advantage of these shows is that the host city becomes highlighted, with its infrastructure and cuisine. The parallels with the Indian Fashion Week(s) were irresistible: Mumbai and Delhi each play tug-of-war at being one up. On the other hand, Indian visitors to these two events tend to be treated as visiting royalty; such is the power of our newly-found purchasing power.

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