The formal dining room has opened again and home chefs have opened their homes for dining of sort experience. The best part being these home chefs bring total home flavours to the table. With each community in India being so unique in recipes, and eating rituals and it great to see how various home chefs have taken the step forward and leading the culinary roadmap.  

Odia food pop-up by Priyanka Pani

Priyanka Pani, a consultant, who runs a successful Odia food pop-up in Mumbai had opened her home since last August. Taking about what parameters she has kept in mind while hosting, she affirms “Home pop-ups are very special as it is not just about tasting a different cuisine but also making people aware of the rich culture and heritage behind a particular cuisine, its history, and the ingredients and effort that goes into creating these recipes. I started following my passion religiously only after the lockdown, as I had some time left from the daily humdrum. I started my home kitchen called MyDidi'sKitchen along with my live-in house help.  But as the city got free from the lockdown, I started hosting friends and acquaintances with different Odia dishes.  The parameters were simple, only vaccinated people were allowed and only four at a time since social distancing was impossible. I also invited people we knew and kept items limited to four, so there wasn't much hassle, and people could relish the delicacies without getting confused”. 

Sneha Saikia's North East Cuisine plate

 With Covid-19 spreading like wildfire, the whole charm of sharing a meal and conversation seemed like a long-lost dream and friendly dining rooms took a backseat. And 2020 also the rise of #quarantinechef, #quarantinebaker and the business of home-chefs boomed like never before. With the more people being inclines towards home and comfort food the most home chefs found their due attention. Sneha Saikia , an expert in Northeast cuisine who runs her home pop-up under the name “Table for 6” and has already done few tables says “I got a lot calls for friends telling me why don’t I open the table and hence I thought to give it a try. I found people were more comfortable and confident in coming to someone’s home then to visiting a restaurant. Also this year after the pandemic, the pattern for reservations is completely changed . Now after reopening, even people are more cautious and they book the entire table with their family or friends which actually works perfect”. 

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Dastarkhwan by Shehnaz Siddiqui

 Last year not only made us cook more food, but also realize the fact that dining in, house parties will definitely do much better than going out. “Home Pop up culture is spreading because food is the root of everything and that’s the very reason why I started Dastarkhwan by Shehnaz Siddiqui. I opened my home for people to understand, live the experience and explore my culture, traditional recipes of ancestors and authentic food of Bhopal as majority seems to be unaware of Bhopali cuisine. For them it's Mughlai which half reality and it's not their fault. It’s hard to know our Food and culture one needs to connect and hence I decided to open up mu home, but with care of life, with all precautions” confirms Shehnaz Siddiqui whose pop-ups are called Dawastarkhwan The Taste of Bhopal

With the market surely opening up, people have also started to prefer much personalized experiences and explore newer cuisines too. Ruchira Hoon, Chef and Food consultant adds “Though I am much skeptical when it comes to opening the home for pop-ups, but when I have to give them a complete experience then I prefer to have the set of people either from same family or those who are known to each other. With the market that has opened up I see them to be slightly older and wiser which is a great market to tap into. Also people have gotten much experimental with cuisine and that’s great move. I see pandemic has a lot to do with that. I really appreciate to people who are coming to these pop-ups are mostly nuance and want to explore. Not really sure how big the boom will be but I am happy seeing the how people are responding though. 

As eating hyperlocal looks like the in thing, this also looks like the best time for home chefs as more and more people are hunting for regional cuisines.