India stirs up gastronomy with French cooking schools amid fine-dining boom

Fiercely proud of its culinary traditions, India is increasingly open to foreign influences, with French cooking schools attracting students eager to make their mark on the country’s growing fine-dining sector.

“Ten or 15 years ago, there were far fewer young people dreaming of becoming chefs,” said Aabhas Jain, director of bakery and pastry training at Ecole Ducasse, a French culinary school also operating in India. “But with the rise of social media... today’s students have greater ambitions in this profession.”

In the world’s most populous country, the need for high-end hospitality workers is immense, fueled by economic growth and the rise of a middle class that travels more and increasingly eats at plush establishments.

A student chef prepares dishes at the French culinary school Ecole Ducasse in Gurugram, India, on Sept. 22.

Photo: AFP

“There are plenty of job opportunities,” said Saurav Chhabra, head of French hotel school Vatel’s Indian campus, which has been based in Gurugram since 2015. “Employers’ expectations are very high, particularly in five-star hotel chains.”

Culinary and pastry courses, once relatively rare in India, have proliferated over the past decade, with foreign private schools helping drive its high-end hospitality sector.

Such is the enthusiasm that France is considering opening vocational schools, notably in Puducherry, the former French colonial port in India’s southeast.

Ecole Ducasse has more than 600 students, most from affluent backgrounds.

Indian chefs who have worked at prestigious restaurants, including overseas, teach their respective specialties: Indian, European, Mediterranean and Asian cuisine, as well as bakery and pastrymaking.

Siddhant Marwah joined the school to acquire “French techniques that represent the quintessence of culinary expertise.”

French and Indian cuisines share techniques such as “braising, blanching and slow cooking in stews,” he said as he put the finishing touches to a gratin dauphinois — a dish of sliced potatoes baked in cream.

While France boasts its beef bourguignon, India is not to be outdone with goat nihari, a meat dish cooked for hours in a spicy broth.

Drawn by the opportunities for travel and meeting people that a career as a chef offers, Marwah dreams of opening his own restaurant in India.

Amitabh Sukhwal has just enrolled at Vatel, whose tuition fees are considerably lower than those at Ecole Ducasse.

The school has about 120 students, many from modest backgrounds.

Sukhwal, who calls himself a “lover of the French language,” plans to go to France in four years to pursue a master’s degree, gain experience abroad and then draw on it to open a hotel in India.

He learned French through interactions with guests at the small hotel run by his parents in Chittorgarh, India, and is now honing his skills at his new school, where French-language classes are compulsory.

After working for many years in India’s luxury hotels, chef Shikha Gupta, who teaches bakery and pastrymaking at Vatel, is pleased to see her classes have “as many men as women.”

“Over the past 10 to 12 years, attitudes have changed and many women have chosen to enter the culinary profession,” Jain said. “We now see near parity, or even a ratio of 60 percent women to 40 percent men.”