The main event is scheduled to take place in October this year in New Delhi. Dine With Royalty will include 20 royal families where they will present their respective cuisine to the general public. In this festival, guests from different walks of life would get an opportunity to dine with the royal families outside the setting of a palace. Here, each of the royal houses would not only extend their hospitality through food, but they will themselves play host to the party of guests. They will share the stories from their family history and an insight into their culinary traditions.
In the festival, visitors will see six luxury tents which would be made by art designers. The tents will create the royal look and showcase the heritage of the particular princely state represented.
Each tent will serve 35 guests at one point of time and two meals will be served every day (lunch and dinner) by different royal families. All the event tickets will be pre-booked and no walk-ins will be entertained.
To add on the experience, special performances by local artistes from each region will be held before lunch and dinner. A special platform has been created called Baradari, where cuisine and culture will be discussed.
At the recently organised preview event to announce the festival, food from the Rampur and Kangra royal kitchens was served. It was followed by an enthralling session of soulful music by Nizami Brothers, reliving the magic of the era gone by.
The festival is curated by eatwithIndia, a technology platform where guests can book meals prepared by registered and very authentic regional chefs online. Co-founder, eatwithIndia, Sonal Saxena spoke to Guardian 20 about the initiative. “It is our endeavour at eatwithIndia to promote the culinary heritage of India. The world has a very narrow view of Indian cuisine. There is no such thing as Indian cuisine, India has a plethora of regional cuisines which form a part of the Indian culinary heritage. The one thing that kept the regional cuisines of India alive in the world where molecular food and International cuisines have taken center stage in India is the linking of the festivals and religious traditions with exclusive food preparations,” she said.
“Royal households of India along with history, culture and art have taken their food very seriously as it was cooked keeping the weather conditions and naturally grown spices and seasonal fruits and vegetables under consideration.”
In a panel discussion on “Royal cuisines of India: Historical Perspective and Insight”, which took place at the preview, Neha Prasada was also present. Prasada has authored a book titled Dining with the Maharajas: A Thousand Years of Culinary Tradition. She said, “Dine With Royalty is a good initiative to celebrate the food of the royal kitchens of India and make it accessible to everyone. At a time where there is so much interest in food and the diner is looking for new experiences, dine with royalty will catch the imagination of foodies.”
At the discussion, which explored and shared cultural insights into the food coming out of royal kitchens and demystified heavily guarded traditions, Tikarani Shailja Katoch was also present. She belongs to the royal family of Kangra. Sharing insight into the festival, Katoch was pleased to share the history of the royal families with the audiences. “Dine with royalty is a unique concept where the focus is on the art of food which is passed on from generations in the royal households giving it a heritage status due to its origin centuries back and cooked with ingredients common to that particular region. India is defined by its rich heritage and culture, and food is a passion and over 500 royal families from different regions of India are being invited to showcase their culinary heritage by Sonal Saxena and her team,” she said.
She further added: “Royal households of India along with history, culture and art have taken their food very seriously as it was cooked keeping the weather conditions, naturally grown spices, seasonal fruits and vegetables under consideration. The meat, chicken, duck, rabbit and the like were cooked and most of them were ‘game meat’. Very interestingly our grandfather Shri Digvijay Singhji from the royal family of Sailana in the central India region has compiled a very interesting book cooking delights of the maharajas which has reflected amazingly curated and perfected dishes, vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes showing the rich culinary heritage of India.”