Nine top chefs come together with nine pathbreaking artists in a food festival for the curious

Picture this: a five-course meal crafted by some of India’s most celebrated chefs, plated like a work of art, and served in an intimate pop-up space designed by India's best contemporary artists. That’s the essence of The Gathering—a first-of-its-kind three-day food festival set to take over Travancore House, New Delhi, from February 21st to 23rd, 2025.

Conceptualized by Sushmita Sarmah and co-curated by Prasad Ramamurthy, The Gathering is more than just a festival—it’s a groundbreaking confluence of food, art, and storytelling. The lineup? Nine of the country’s finest chefs, each paired with a creative powerhouse, coming together to create immersive dining experiences unlike anything you've seen before.

A feast for the senses

With only 20 guests per seating, The Gathering ensures an ultra-exclusive, sensory-rich experience, divided into three distinct themes:

The Explorers: A global lens on regional Indian cooking
Expect bold reinterpretations of familiar flavors, like Auroni Mookerjee and Sonal Sawant’s nature-driven Terra Firma or Prateek Sadhu and Aradhana Seth’s A Table in the Mountains, where Himalayan ingredients meet avant-garde plating. Regi Mathew and Vinu Daniel take Kerala’s toddy shop culture to new heights with The Modern Day Toddy Shop, proving that hyperlocal can also be hyper-exciting.

The Innovators: Culinary rule-breakers
Here’s where things get experimental. Adwait Anantwar and Devika Narain present The Darbar of Perception, a surrealist-inspired dining experience that challenges how we see (and taste) food. Meanwhile, Gresham Fernandes and Elsewhere in India play with contrast in Contrasts & Dualities, and Viraf Patel and Alex Davis take us on a thought-provoking journey through sustainability with The Last Harvest. 

The Conservators: Honoring tradition, reimagining the future
In a world obsessed with the new, these chefs are looking back to move forward. Amninder Sandhu and Ekarth Studio evoke the nostalgia of ancestral cooking with Around the Campfire, while Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar and Archana Hande spotlight food histories we’ve nearly forgotten in Forbidden. Stolen. Feral. And in Past Continuous, Vanika Choudhary and Punit Jasuja give ancient Indian fermentation techniques a contemporary spin.

Beyond the plate

The Gathering isn’t just about what’s on your plate—it’s about the entire experience. Every menu is paired with handcrafted cocktails, and the festival space itself transforms into a cultural hub with live music, buzzing bars, and a beautifully curated store featuring artisanal tableware, linens, and apparel designed exclusively for the event.

With a lineup that reads like a who’s who of India’s culinary and creative elite, this festival is not just a meal—it’s an invitation to taste, see, and experience food like never before.

Lead image: The Gathering

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