One of the most anticipated culinary events of the year, Goya Media & Edible Issues together with design and branding partner Two Tigers & Co teamed up to organise the first edition Food Nerd Festival in November 2023. This was a day-long celebration of all things culinary, featuring some of the brightest and most exciting names in the business.
The sessions at the Food Nerd Playground cooked in collaboration with Zomato Live! saw a packed audience, who asked insightful questions, took copious notes and behaved like proper fans. It is where chefs Pooja Dhingra and Thomas Zacharias, and illustrator Alicia Souza bonded over having blogs, growing their brand organically, and the need to stand for something offline (and not only online). Diaspora Co’s Sana Javeri Kadri and PR powerhouse, Radhika Mishra, had the audience in splits even while imparting serious advice about building people-centric brands. Marketing expert, Smriti Rao, and Blue Tokai’s Matt Chitranjan, led an insightful session on gaining the first 1000 customers. Anand Virmani of Hapusa, and Latika Khosla of Freedom Tree, shared lessons on building storytelling into their beloved brands. Kainaz Messman of Theobroma, alongside Akhila Srinivas, Sumeet Kaur and Rajiv Srivatsa debated the choice between scaling a business and staying boutique. Ishka Farms’ Fiona Arakal offered a witty and insightful conclusion to the festival by taking people through her caper business.
At the Food Nerd Labs, experimentations and learnings continued under the themes SALT FAT ACID HEAT. Cheese superstar, Mansi Jasani, walked people through cheese and chocolate pairings; chacutier Balagopal Menon and chef Gautam Krishnakutty talked about all things flavour and salt. Sana Javeri Kadri of Diaspora Co led a spice appreciation workshop alongside a tasting of Godawan, an Indian craft whiskey rooted in Rajasthan. And Honey Islam and Ashish D’abreo led a workshop on fermentation in kombucha and coffee.
The Food Nerd festival is an organic offshoot of the Food Nerd Party, a Goya & Edible Issues annual tradition since 2021. As befitting its roots, there were parties — the pre-event Food Nerd Party, and After Hours post the event. The highlight of After Hours was a collaboration between Lavonne’s Vinesh Johny and Le 15’s Pooja Dhingra who served up an indulgent menu with pecan brownies, banana peanut butter blondies, pumpkin pie latte, and olive oil and sourdough cookie, while taking breaks to take selfies with fans.
What’s a food festival without good food? Chef Karan Upmanyu, an old Food Nerd party hand, served up an inspired menu for the Food Nerd party, with Christmas foods from around India. Think savoury achappams with mushroom/chicken pate, mutton sliders and furikake button idlis, paired with Christmas cocktails by Talisker. Butterfingers, a pop-up by Taiyaba Ali & Maki Patisserie, curated a stunning lunch for the festival’s speakers, who were spotted raving about the nihari puff, and chaat tarts.
After Hours had different food zones: Chef Tresa Francis filled up The Conservatory space with her coconut and curry leaf flavoured prawn fry, and lotus stem chips. Downstairs in the Courtyard, chef Karan Thakker whipped up delish sandwiches including a smoked eggplant one. And during the day, The Food Nerd Market had vendors feeding hungry people: from cheesy sandwiches from Kase Cheese x Loafer & Co, Burmese salads from Burma Burma, mutton treats from Malgudi Mylari Mane, fresh kombucha from Umami Brew, and coffee from Blue Tokai Coffee. The food was paired with cocktails with Tanqueray's London Dry Gin, and Talisker whiskey.