The Big Fat Indian Buffet 2.0

Over the last decade, a number of factors have helped profligate a new movement within the wedding catering biz. Gourmet catering options are taking over the market, one shaadi at a time

- Suman Mahfuz Quazi

Everywhere across the world - from the pristine climes of the Amalfi Coast in Italy to the knackered Marriage Bureau of the City Hall in New York - the showstopper of a wedding is almost always the bride. Except in India, where guests are more likely to find the baby naan cute, and the bride tanned/old/raddled. This is a country where parents start planning what the wedding buffet will or won't have even before the child's umbilical cord stump has fallen off. So, the food served at an Indian wedding is undoubtedly a pretty big deal.

The last decade has seen the rise of India's affluent youth, who, armed with a greater sense of discernment, have started playing a pivotal role in curating their own weddings. This, in turn, has led to a gargantuan demand in bespoke catering services, eventually heralding a new era in the country's wedding catering story. 

The new world of wedding food appears modest, but is perhaps more luxurious than it has ever been before. Gone are the days of cookie-cutter menus, hara bhara kebab and sticky gulab jamun. Today, serpentine buffets with all kinds of cuisines are being replaced with the 'flying buffet', sit down dinners are gaining gumption, kebab and chaat is being replaced with pretty looking canapes, live counters are dishing out Thai street food instead of Indianised pasta, and increasingly, clients are pushing caterers to do interactive desserts - like assorted French toast or a churros station - instead of petit fours like cake, brownie, and cheesecake. For all its pared down austerity, food at Indian weddings right now is ostensibly the most complex it has been.