The fickle finger of fete

Sparks flit off a candyfloss machine You bite into a pink cloud of sugary goodness only for it to disappear into your mouth within minutes Youre shaken from your moment of bliss by shrieks from excited kids on a giant Ferris wheel revolving in the background Who among us can forget Sunday trips to the winter fair that made for evenings of uninhibited funBut for the longest time these melas served as the triedandtested structure for Indian festivals until things began changing with the advent of more culturally skewed events like film and music festivals Even so walk into a food festival in 2019 and after a while it feels like someone replaced the candyfloss with something fancier like a waffle on a stickCrispy is a platform for local brandsEarlier this month The New York Times Americas top publication with stellar FampB coverage put together their first food festival Organised entirely by the newspapers staff it appeared to be a solid affair backed by careful and discretionary curation and tied together with talks and ticketed dinners at restaurants across New York CityOne of the only festivals in India to have had even a semblance of this kind of rigour was the Vault Biennale organised by fine spirits connoisseur Keshav Prakash in February this year Like the US publications festival this one too had verticals mdash Experience where you could sample 50plus fine spirit brands Listen a series of talks Indulge which comprised master classes and Discover where you could get acquainted with new brandsNYT Food Fest in Manhattan Image courtesygreekalicious_foodPrakash shares that the motive behind any festival is twopronged mdash communitybuilding and firsthand experience What thus sets apart a truly good one from a runoffthemill variant is the curation The production comes later And you have many really good event management companies to take care of that he argues The idea behind the Biennale emerged from a passion for fine sprits around which the community in India is either scattered or too smallThe quest and the curiosityBut whether it is Prakash who helmed what can be called a serious FampB festival Ronak Rajani who has spent years working with festival organisers and recently pulled off Crispy a newage food market that doubled up as a platform for homegrown brands that do not have the financial wherewithal for aggressive marketing or Nevil Timbadia one of the three organisers of Tapped Beer Festival ostensibly Indias first craft beer festival that kicked off in 2014 mdash they all agree that despite the odds a veritable audience seeking such kind of experiences is there What then is missing A lotTappeds footfall has increased from 800 in 2014 to 4300 in February this yearWhen Bhakti Mehta Saumya Khona and I started this festival the craft beer scene was just getting started There were only two Mumbaibased brands at that point but there was an interest At that time we were just looking at a oneday event to explore craft beers Timbadia recalls adding that over the years and as each edition threw up new facets fresh elements like music games and kids zones were added to the programme The fact that him Mehta and Khona had varied expertise Mehta has a catering business and Timbadia has dabbled in music programming at his restaurants helped give the event a more dynamic bentBut Rajani questions this notion when he says While some food festivals in the city like The Lil Flea offer a great overall experience curationwise none of them have really evolved Then how do you explain how festivals like Tapped have changed from being a platform for catering and popup variety brands like PackaPav to a dais for more austere ventures like O Pedro or Nara This change is perhaps best understood as consequential rather than intentional Foodwise I think what is interesting is that now restaurants are tweaking their approach to these festivals by whipping up exclusive dishes So you could have eaten at CinCin but youll only get to try this particular dish here Timbadia tells usRonak Rajani and Nevil Timbadia An eye on the futureThis is an interesting development because it points towards a collaborative approach And yet Prakash feels we have not even scratched the surface The Vault Biennales inception was followed by a twoyear gestation period It took us eight months to put it together because our offering needed to be uncompromised And you have to ask yourself what the purpose of a festival is Its a place where a person subscribes to a curator so they can open up new windows for them If your festival is all about discounts mdash which is so passeacute mdash then its really a bazaarShould a festival cater to the needs of niche communities while also serving as an avenue for undiscovered brands and act as a platform generally for the discerning foodie like the NYT Food Fest has Sure But apart from being all of these things any event is at the end of the day a business venture tooKeshav PrakashSo it has to make economic sense In a country where established restaurants are already grappling with soaring rentals cumbersome licensing procedures and dwindling profit margins the risk with respect to a fullblown event like a food or drinks festival is exponentially multiplied Even if there is vision how do you reconcile it with logistical concerns like profitability Initially we didnt make much money it grew with time We literally flipped a coin and saw where it went Timbadia reveals The solution You have to just stick it outUpcoming The Lil Flea is on November 8 9 and 10 Tapped 80 is on November 24Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates