Food and regional cuisines play a significant role as India prepares to commemorate its 75th anniversary of Independence. Indian cuisine refers to a fusion of tastes from many parts of the nation while evoking a desire for home-cooked food. According to The Godrej Food Trends Report 2022, people will continue to connect over food that’s been passed down through the generations, while also turning inward, rediscovering lost recipes, and savouring locally grown products that have been disregarded in modern times.
The research emphasises the rising pride in one’s own culinary identity, the growing appreciation for India’s authentically rich gastronomic heritage, and the inherent wisdom present in ancient culinary practises. Consumers have been identifying and examining the wealth of foundations that helped shape this industry when it comes to food. Diners are looking for variety in regional cuisine concepts that offer rich nutrients and flavours of authentic culinary traditions as a result of renewed pride in and need for originality in India’s culinary identity. A culinary lifestyle is characterised by the invention, mastery, and presentation of cooking and dining that reflect the diversity of a nation, according to the historical study of food.
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Godrej Foods Trends Report 2022 goes into detail about the dynamic roots and changing realities of culinary culture. Some of these observations are based on the opinions of over 200 thought leaders which includes celebrity chefs, home cooks, professional chefs, food bloggers, health experts, media experts, mixologists, nutritionists, restaurateurs, sommeliers, food producers, and more — all of whom shared insightful observations about their specialised fields. Several significant discoveries for 2022 include:
Regional cuisines: 56.3 per cent of food experts believe that the new-found pride in one’s culinary identity and need for novelty will make Indian diners/chefs/restaurateurs seek regional cuisine-based concepts for the food they prepare and serve.
Rediscovering culture: 55.6 per cent of panel experts observe an interest in exploring culinary identity by rediscovering their roots through food, be it that of family, community, or the region of India they descend from.
Dining out: 50 per cent of the panelists picked Mountain Cuisines of India (food that is prepared with ingredients and materials retrieved from mountains), and 48.4 per cent voted for a deeper exploration of North Eastern cuisines
Reinventing dishes - As chefs and restaurateurs delve into local exploration and rediscover cuisine, 43.1 per cent of panellists stated that people are drawn to foods/dishes that evoke a feeling of nostalgia, or ones that have been reinvented by chefs
Traditional sweets: 42.6 per cent of the panelists noticed a growing sense of pride in homemade traditional, regional sweets. Sweets will continue to occupy a position of pride on restaurant menus in 2022.
Supporting farmers: 70.8 per cent of those surveyed noted that consumers have become mindful of the impact their choices have on the environment, and as a result make conscious choices to support buying from local farmers and food producers.
Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal, Curating Editor of the Godrej Foods Trends Report 2022 said, “Indian cuisine is throwing off stereotypes and being recognised for its nuanced complexity. A movement of self-discovery we have observed growing in the Indian culinaryscape over the past four editions. In 2018, we saw the first evidence of interest in India’s diverse culinary culture with curiosity around regional Indian cuisine burgeoning. In 2019, that early curiosity grew, into deeper explorations of micro-regional cuisines. Which ignited interest in rediscovering traditional ingredients, cookware, and fats. In 2020, the pandemic changed everything globally. In India, the home kitchen came into focus, and we began to rediscover our roots. In 2021, this crescendoed into the renaissance of regional Indian food discovery, as we reclaimed our culinary heritage. From discovering ancestral roots to savouring regional micro-cuisines, from reignited interest in ayurveda to traditional cookware and cooking fats — these are the trends shaping India’s food habits in 2022.”