‘Godrej Food Trends Report 2022“: reveals Indians Traveling to discover food has caught the attention of avid travelers who want to explore new cuisines
Besides its rich cultural heritage, India offers tremendous potential for culinary tourism thanks to its varied culinary regions and flavor profiles.
A decade ago, India had little experience with the market for culinary tourism.
Still, today the Culinary Tourism sector is at the cusp of explosion as the Indian traveler embarks on a journey to savor the richness of local cuisines we offer in the country!
And it’s not just Indians; travelers worldwide are flocking to India to try authentic Indian cuisine and experience it firsthand.
The pandemic cut travel out entirely in 2020 – 21. Almost 90% Godrej Food Trends Report 2022 respondent panel predicted an undeniable hunger for travel experiences centered around culinary culture and cuisine.
And even while consumers were homebound and assuaging their need for new flavors by cooking from regional and global cuisines, they were chalking out bucket lists of places to visit and foods to taste when things improved. And now the time has come to start checking all those items off!
The annual Godrej Foods Trends Report 2022 – Collector’s Edition is evolving facets of culinary culture in India.
These insights are based on the opinions of over 200+ thought leaders, including celebrity chefs, home chefs, professional chefs, food bloggers, health professionals, media professionals, mixologists, nutritionists, restaurateurs, sommeliers, food producers, and more. All of them share deep insights about their respective areas of expertise. Some key findings that have emerged for 2022 are:
CULINARY TOURISM – 87.1% of food experts predicted people would travel more to experience culinary culture and cuisine. There is increased demand for travel experiences centered around culinary culture and cuisine
FOOD AND BEVERAGE TOURS – 67.7% panel said food and beverage tours would be in fashion. Many hospitality and tourism businesses have opened themselves up to patrons through food and beverage tours, allowing travelers to dive deep into processes and expertise behind local foods, beverages, favorite indulgences, and opportunities to taste.
FOOD WALKS – 66.1% of experts see people opting more for city food walks. The panel considers this need to get out and explore, resulting in many more city food walks as people seek novel experiences closer to home.
CULINARY RESIDENCY – 35.5% of food experts see culinary residency picking up more. The Culinary Residency allows chefs, industry professionals, and newcomers to refine a food concept. It could be preparing a restaurant menu, testing recipes, creating a new food product, or researching a food subject. The individual is hosted, and collaboration between them and other residents and members of the institution is encouraged
FOOD RESEARCH AND EXPLORATION – 25.8% of our panel see people traveling for food research and exploration in food. Travelers are becoming more introspective; this has already begun to manifest with greater exploration of destinations within the country.
“I think all of us have spent two years fantasizing about the foods we want to try and cuisines we want to explore and chomping at the bit to get out there! We are all going to travel specifically to explore food. Whether to harvest our own Saffron in Kashmir, or cook and taste cuisines from local Agri, East Indian, or Bengali and Naga to Vietnamese, Korean or Peruvian.
The era of culinary or food tourism is here! Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal, Curating Editor of the Godrej Foods Trends Report 2022, said,
