Chef Ajay Chopra is the face of European Union’s ‘More Than Food’ campaign in India. The ‘More Than Food’ campaign is aimed at increasing awareness in India about the food and beverages from the 27 EU Member States through a series of social media, B2B activities, and promotions by highlighting their safety, quality, authenticity, sustainability, and diversity.
In this interview he talks about the vision behind the ‘More Than Food’ campaign in India, authenticity and safety of European Union food ingredients, and the need to take European food to the common Indian household, among other things.
Excerpts
Q. What’s the vision behind the ‘More Than Food’ campaign in India? Also tell us about your association with the European Union as well as the campaign.
A. I am extremely honoured and delighted to be a part of European Union’s More Than Food campaign in India, as their campaign ambassador. Through this campaign, the European Union and I want to help the Indian audience explore the diverse and rich nature of ingredients and agricultural products from its 27 Member States. It aims to create a range of culinary experiences, bringing alive applications of European food and beverages in Indian cuisine. Every product reflects the commitment of European agricultural producers to offer authentic, safe, quality and sustainable products, from farm to fork. All of this is done in accordance with the EU’s high standards of production, processing, and packaging, following robust regulations with utmost transparency, ensuring that each agricultural product is fully traceable, and its origin can be identified at any stage of production or distribution.
Q. As the ambassador for ‘More Than Food› campaign in India, how do you look at the prospects of bringing the culinary experiences to India with this campaign?
A. The idea of this campaign is to create a range of culinary experiences and bring alive applications of European food and beverages in Indian cuisine. The Indian palette is used to a myriad of tastes and with this campaign, we want to bring to the audience a collection of flavours, full of character and history and will give the audience a chance to explore these rich ingredients.
Q. In a country as diverse as India the Food habits vary greatly from place to place. How authentic, safe, and sustainable European Union food ingredients are for Indian consumption?
A. Agricultural products from the European Union are a lot more than just food and drinks. They are a collection of flavours that are bursting with characters, tracing back to its origin. Each ingredient has a unique story to share, which is a heritage that has been passed down through generations. The products are built around quality and tradition, with an emphasis on genuine and unique ingredients that are subject to rigorous regulations at every stage of their production, processing and packaging.
Each EU country or region has employed ancient techniques to produce food and drinks that reflect local weather, cultures, and values. The food and drinks of the EU are produced, processed, and marketed in adherence to comprehensive standards for plant health, animal welfare and environment protection, which are among the strictest in the world.
The EU´s Farm to Fork Strategy aims to make food systems fair, healthy, and environmentally friendly. Sustainably produced EU products are the output of sustainable farming practices and leading innovations in agriculture and food science, and they help preserve the ecosystems and thus are a step forward to ensuring the planet’s health for us all.
Personally, I feel that the ingredients are a treat to work with. To share a personal experience with you, I used Blue Cheese from Denmark and created this beautiful concoction with fried garlic and stuffed them in a naan (Indian bread) and created these gorgeous naan pockets with creamy blue cheese coupled with the sharp flavour and crunch of the garlic. This was just one of the most beautiful dishes I have created.
Q. How keen are you in taking European food to the common Indian household?
A. The entire idea of the More Than Food campaign is to take European food into the Indian kitchen. As the ambassador of the campaign, I am really looking forward to educating the Indian audience of the authenticity, quality and safety of European ingredients. The options of what you can make using these ingredients are endless and over the next few months of my association with the European Union, I will keep my audience engaged and take them through a journey where they understand the different nuances of European food.
Q. What would be your recommended delicacies/preparations to someone uninitiated to European cuisine?
A. I think the best way to start and get acquainted is to prepare a cheese and charcuterie board. It’s the easiest way to get familiar with a host of products and create one platter which will have a variety of flavours. You can use different kinds of cheese, fruits and vegetables, meat and pair it up with wine or even some beer.
Q. You had hosted a Virtual Tasting Event a few months back. What was it all about?
A. The Virtual Tasting Event was hosted basically to kick-start European Union’s ‘More Than Food’ campaign in India. The idea was to get importers, distributors and members of the HORECA sector in India acquainted with the ingredients and flavours from the EU. During the session, the audience got an opportunity to understand the heritage behind each ingredient, as I took them through some interesting stories about European Food. While they loved the anecdotes, they also got a chance to try these products as we curated and sent them amazing hampers with EU products. We wanted them to understand how such high quality and flavorful products come from EU’s member states and we did just that alongside offering some tips and tricks to create a perfect cheese and charcuterie board. It has been a great experience as the Ambassador of the More Than Food campaign so far, and I am sure the journey is just going to get more and more interesting.
Chef Ajay Chopra