NetIP attends the Varli Food Festival in NYC
An estimated 800 people attended the first ever Varli Food Festival, an Indian Culinary & Chef Showcase in New York City. This one of a kind, culinary event was held on Thursday, April 7, 2011 at the prestigious Altman Building in the heart of Chelsea in Manhattan. Varli Food Festival became a sold out event days before the big day, with nearly 1,000 people scrounging to buy additional tickets!
The who’s who of the Indian culinary world including, Chefs, Restaurant Owners and other celebrities walked the red carpet amidst a sea of media and 100’s of onlookers. We were delighted to meet again with Chef Jehangir Mehta, our radio guest for Prime Time with NetIP. Interested fans will get a chance to meet Chef at the 20th Annual NetIP Conference in DC!
Inside the venue were multiple representations of the unique flavors of India. Over 35 restaurants featured unique samplers such as Tandoori Chicken Sushi Rolls, Paneer Kati Roll, Coconut Shrimp, and even Masala Crab Cake with Lotus Root Crisp. Award Winning Celebrity Chefs participated in various activities including cook book signing, food demonstrations and a silent auction. The evening also including Wine parings, Full bar, cooking demonstrations and a live performance of tabla and dance by Tina Sugandh.
India’s most beloved and famous celebrity chef; Sanjeev Kapoor indulged guests with a live cooking show! Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor hosts the popular cooking show “Khana Khazana” and is the winner of many prestigious awards. Kapoor’s book ‘How to Cook Indian’ was available for purchase and a hit amongst guests. Guests were also given a chance to take pictures and get autographs with all participating chefs, including Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor.
Other unique things included a gift certificate book worth over $500 in discounts from participating restaurants, V card membership and a large spice market offering everything from spices and rice to cookies and snacks.
World renowned celebrity chefs that participated in the Varli Food Festival are Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, Vikas Khanna, Jehangir Mehta (former, runner up on “the Next Iron Chef’) Hemant Mathur, Floyd Cardoz , Suvir Saran, Prasad Chirnomula, Hari Nayak, Maneet Chauhan (former, contestant on ‘The Next Iron Chef’), Walter D’Rozario, Mel Oza, and Peter Beck. Chef Pankaj Bhadouria, winner of Master Chef India and Radhicka Agarwaal, runner up of Master Chef India both flew in from India to be a part of the Varli Food Festival.
The Varli Food Festival was organized by Varli Singh, founder and Publisher of The Varli Magazine. Varli Magazine linked up with the Food Bank for New York City and will be donating 10% of the proceeds from ticket sales and 100% of proceeds from cookbook sales and the silent auction to the charity.
Attended by both NetIP North America and NetIP New York, the Varli food festival was a delightful evening of delicious food, decadent desserts
and wine parings. We sampled foods and presentations from amazing restaurants, met owners and chefs, discussed tannins with wine companies and had live entertainment to top it all off.
A very well done event indeed, we look forward to more from Varli.
For more information on the Varli Food Festival, please visit www.varlifoodfestival.com. In addition, stay tuned for Varli’s upcoming Dichku Ichku food festival for children coming later this fall!
