On May 16, 2023, Indian chef Prateek Sadhu gave a presentation titled “The Journey of India” during the opening supper of the 76th Cannes Film Festival. The Indian Ministry of Information and Technology organized the event, which included French and Indian fusion food.
Manushi Chhillar, Guneet Monga, Urvashi Rautela, and Indian director Madhur Bhandarkar were among the guests at the event. Sadhu focused on the regional variations of Indian foods and tastes when creating a cuisine. By combining Tungrymbai from the Northeast area with Millet Thoran, he created a discussion about India’s variety with the menu in order to support the International Year of Millets. Meghalayan Tungrymbai cuisine is made by fermenting and burning soybeans. The menu also includes Malvani-style sole fish, Mysore Pak, Bengali Sandesh, and Potato Koshimbir.
The food was a fascinating journey through India’s many cuisines and regions. “The idea was to showcase regionality and hyper-regionality in the cuisine. For instance, from the east of India came putharo (rice cakes), which were served with smoked lamb in tungrymbai sauce (fermented soybean popular amongst the Khasi community),” mentions Sadhu.
A Malvani-style French dover sole and prawn “ishtew” were also on the menu, along with millet thoran, strawberry aachar, aam papad, ber salt, and aachar granita chaat. Guests finished their dinner with kalakand ice cream that was topped with whipped malai and aam panna custard. Petit fours with Indian sweets including sandesh, chikki, Kashmiri badam mithai, and Mysore pak were given as the last dish, along with coffee from Ratnagiri and Kashmiri kahwa.
