Riding on the growing popularity of Indian cuisine across the globe, Indian Culinary Institute, under the Tourism Ministry, plans to make its Noida centre operational from the next session even as it starts a three-year degree course at new Tirupati branch this year.
"Indian Culinary Institute (ICI) is our new venture. We plan to start the course next year at the Noida centre which is under construction now," Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi said.
He said the three-year Bachelor of Science (Culinary Arts) programme will begin from August 16, this year at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh with a batch of 30 students.
Last year, state-run National Buildings Construction Corporation Ltd (NBCC) had bagged the contract to construct Indian Culinary Institute in Noida for Rs 98.5 crore and at Tirupati for Rs 89.42 crore.
Students of the Tirupati centre will attend classes at the state's Institute of Hotel Management. It will later shift to the new campus which is being set up on a 14-acre site at Renigunta near Tirupati.
"Once the campus is ready within two years, we will shift to the new campus and then we will think of increasing the number of students as well," Zutshi said.
Another official said the move is in line with the Indian cuisine getting "immensely popular" all over the world.
"The market for culinary tourism to India is growing as our culinary traditions continue to draw increasing international attention.
"To tap this potential, there is need for an institutional mechanism to promote culinary tourism and to preserve and document the thousands of recipes which have evolved over the ages, mostly by tradition and which vary greatly from region to region," he said.
Although the Tourism Ministry has a wide network of Institutes of Hotel Management (IHMs) and Food Craft Institutes (FCIs) under its aegis, these institutions primarily meet the requirement of trained manpower for managerial levels.
ICI will fill this void of grooming chefs of international standards in India, the official said.
