Festival of spirits

The second edition of the India Food and Wine show is all set to kick off in the capital. The three-day event, which starts on January 8, will be held at the Taj Palace.

This year 74 exhibitors and 12,000 companies from countries such as the US, Canada, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, UK, Argentina, Portugal, Switzerland and Norway, besides India will participate in the fair. Last year there were 25 participants to the exhibition.

"The total imports for the food and drink sector in 2001 was around $563 million. I want at least 20 per cent of the business to happen through the fair in the next few years," says Rajiv Malhotra, chief executive, Lotus Exhibition and Marketing Services (LEMS), the main organiser of the fair.

The fair is jointly organised by Taj Palace and Verona Fairs Authority, of which LEMS is the sole representative in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The focus, this year is to promote wine as a good match for spicy Indian food. In fact, Sopexa, the French board for the promotion of exports of food and beverage, which is supporting the fair is promoting wine with the tag line, "Eat Indian, drink Alsace".

"Though there are other food shows in India, this one is different in that our clientele is different. We are talking only about fine food and wines here," says Malhotra.

The exhibitors this year will include French wine and cheese companies, Australian, Italian and South African wine makers, India's very own Sula wines as well as companies specialising in products such as olive oil and mustard.

While the day sessions will be devoted to serious business, including seminars, training and industry interaction, the evenings will be given over to fun.

There will be a "gourmet safari", in which select invitees will go restaurant hopping, sampling four different wines over four courses in four different restaurants across the city.

The pit stops will be Tea House of the August Moon (Taj Palace), La Piazza (Hyatt Regency), Dumpukht (Maurya Sheraton) and 1911 (Imperial).

The final day of the fair will conclude with a cooking competition where 16 chefs from all over India will cook with wine.

The winner gets a paid trip to VinItaly, an Italian food and beverages fair conducted by the Verona Fairs Authority.

Whether Alsace or any of its cousins go well with tikkas is for foodies to decide. But for the next few days Delhiites would do well if they gave their tumbler of whisky a miss and sipped some sparklers instead.