Celebrating India's First Cacao and Craft Chocolate Festival
India’s first cacao and craft chocolate festival, to be held in Bengaluru, on 12th & 13th November, brings together craft chocolate makers, cacao farmers, industry professionals, chocolatiers and chocolate enthusiasts. Goya co-founder Anisha Oommen talks to Chef Gresham Fernandes about Cacao Salon and the dream dinner in celebration of all things cacao, at the Freedom Tree store, Bengaluru.
Patrica Cosma, chocolate consultant and curator of the festival, begins her day with a cup of hot chocolate. “Cacao is one of the most nutritious fruits in the world,” she explains. “For good health, the darker the better.”
Cacao has 40 times more antioxidants than blueberries, is full of healthy fats and minerals that support brain function, and is an effective antidepressant and mood elevator. “It gives me energy and makes me happy,” she smiles.
For the first time in India, in an attempt to bring together craft chocolate makers, cacao farmers, industry professionals, chocolatiers and chocolate enthusiasts, Patricia and her partner, Ketaki Churi, are curating the Indian Cacao and Craft Chocolate Festival. It will be held at the Bangalore International Centre, featuring some of the best chocolate, cheese, coffee and kombucha brands from around the country.
Cacao first came to India with the British, but spread as tertiary crop to grow on areca nut plantations in the 60s. Varanashi Farms in Adyanadka is one of the first farms that cacao was planted, and is now one of the foremost producers of organic cacao.
Craft chocolate, unlike mass produced chocolate, is sourced directly from farmers, who play a key role in chocolate making. “Chocolate’s flavour comes from fermentation. Fermentation and drying are both processes that happen on the farm, with a lot of care and attention,” explains Partha Varanashi, molecular biologist and sustainable farmer.
Craft chocolate earns its sustainability tag because its supply chain is transparent, ensuring fair pay to growers, unlike the wake of deforestation, child labour and poverty that mass produced chocolate is known to leave in its wake.
Pranoy of Kerehaklu, a coffee plantation in Chikmagalur, adds another layer of perspective: “Indian cacao is so biodiverse. It grows with our coffee, pepper, citrus, and other spices, depending on the humidity and microclimate. I believe that is the real beauty of Indian cacao, not really touched upon enough — that it grows in a multi-cropped agricultural system, very similar to what we call a food forest.”
In the lead up to the festival, on the 11th & 12th of November, chef Gresham Fernandes, Culinary Director of Impressario, and powerhouse behind some of the country’s most ubiquitous and beloved restaurants, is curating a long-table dinner for 20 guests, to celebrate the cacao and its surrounding biodiversity.
Cacao Salon is a pop-up dinner over two nights at the Freedom Tree store in Bangalore’s Indiranagar. Cacao Salon will feature Kerehaklu’s avocados, pomelos, pepper and coffee; passion fruit double-fermented cacao nibs, plantain jam, calamansi concentrate and cinnamon from Kuruvinakunnel Tharavadu farms, a 40-year-old cacao farm in Pala, Kerela; chocolate from Mason & Co; and a few star ingredients from Bangalore’s local markets (including avarekkai, blue grapes, rose onions, and matta rice), to be used in Gresham’s signature irreverent yet thoughtful style.
Gresham is constantly seeking an edge to push his creative boundaries. “After cooking for 20 years, you want to go back to basics and do it all over again. I’m trusting the farmers to give me great produce, and they’re trusting me not to f*ck it up.”
Cooking outside his own kitchen means walking a line, constantly adjusting, correcting for things that could go wrong. “You’re always on your feet; always tasting, always trying to figure out what’s happening. I like being engaged.” Freedom Tree, a beautiful furniture and home store, is a space that feminine, warm and inviting in a way that restaurants rarely are. “Curating a meal here has the potential to be so much more immersive than a restaurant.”
Curating these small meals is where Gresham gets to play. After the closure of Jude Bakery, his test kitchen and culinary playground, this is his return to the field. “Cooking for people in the same room, eating the same thing — that’s where the magic happens. I like to come into the field with a blank slate, a broad idea, and room for things to happen. Someone will pop in at the last minute with a habanero vinegar that’s been marinating for 6 months, and you’re going to want to use that!” Gresham’s cooking style isn’t cuisine-centric so much as constantly evolving. In his own words, “It’s what I’m feeling, what’s available, who I’m talking to, what I’m listening to, which chefs I’ve collaborated with in the past.” `
He is working on the menu when we meet him at Smoke House Deli in Bandra. “I want food to be something that connects people, that starts conversations on the table. For example, if butter popcorn takes two minutes to make, then let me make you popcorn that is two days in the making. Imagine our ‘umami tsunami’ powder, made with mushrooms, soy, in house-miso and a bit of koji, tossed with caramel popcorn.”
“I’m imagining our signature liver pate, buttery and smooth, finished with Mason & Co’s 100% dark chocolate. Imagine roasting Kerehaklu’s creamy avocados to serve with a chickpea miso. I’m thinking about Bangalore’s butter beans in a confit with cacao butter, until they’re bursting at the seams and sweet. We’re prepping a coffee-chilli-black pepper spice rub for the meat roast, to spoon over creamy risotto made with matta rice. In the end, it’s about a warm, comforting meal that is delicious and out of the ordinary.”
Cacao Salon by Gresham opens the festival on Friday evening, November 11th at Freedom Tree, and the two-day festival will be held at BIC, Bangalore, where visitors can expect to taste, learn, and shop delicacies from brands doing incredible work with cacao. Workshops and conferences are listed here, with sessions on exploring Indian cacao by Mansi Reddy of Mason & Co; understanding tree-to-bar by Akhil Gandhi of Bon Fiction; tracing the origin of coffee and cacao as beans and brew by Pranoy Thipaiah of Kerehaklu; regenerative farming by Partha Varanashi of Varanashi Farms; cacao nutrition by Sarah Edwards of Copper and Cloves; pairing cheese and chocolate by cheese-makers Nari & Kage.
Several iconic Bangalore brands will be present, with signature creations exclusively for the festival. Araku Coffee will be showcasing a cascara & cacao husk caramel latté, and a white mocha made with almond milk & cacao butter emulsion; cheesecake crusted with cacao nibs & Chocolate mousseline from House of Sapor; fresh toasted bagels with peanut butter, jam and cacao nibs by Loafer & Co and Peels Nut Butter; and a chilli-chocolate mango bar by Ulo.
Book tickets to attend Cacao Salon featuring Gresham Fernandes at Freedom Tree.
Sign up for workshops at the festival.
ALSO ON THE GOYA JOURNAL
