All Presidents’ Meals: What’s Served at the First Table

When President Ram Nath Kovind recently hosted a reception for the Indian Olympic contingent, Rashtrapati Bhavan’s kitchen had the opportunity to express their gratitude to the athletes for making the nation proud. When designing the menu, we kept two key elements in mind: adapting to the dietary needs of the athletes and presenting in front of them a range of regional and international flavors. To make sure the meal was nutritious and healthy, tortillas with exotic vegetables, well-complemented delicacies such as murgh hazarvi tikka and mushroom pies. The dessert was a combination of rava kesari and pistachio baklava, a fusion of classic Indo-Western symphonies. And how could we let them go without serving the traditional and highly nutritious Indian drink, Punjabi energy drink, kesar badam lassi?

Serving the nation’s premier table, we must be extremely careful when planning menus. At Rashtrapati Bhavan events, the aim is to integrate the vast and varied food cultures and showcase India’s diversity to visiting dignitaries. The state banquet is an opportunity to give visitors an idea of ​​the dynamism of the different Indian cuisines. At the same time, the eating habits, likes and dislikes of visiting dignitaries should also be taken into account. Often times, flavors and ingredient combinations need to be tweaked slightly to suit the preferences of the guests, but it’s just as important to ensure that the authenticity is not lost in the process.

Olympic medalist boxer Lovlina Borgohain (left) and badminton player PV Sindhu at the recent reception hosted by the President of the Indian Olympic Contingent (Photo: Courtesy Rashtrapati Bhavan Photo Archive)

The Rashtrapati Bhavan Kitchen is responsible for feeding the President and the First Family on a daily basis, looking after official guests, including Heads of State, and private functions for the President and the First Lady. There was a time when the Willingdons and Mountbatten used broths, soufflés, steaks and other traditional European specialties. Oddly enough, their kitchen operations have never been run by a European chef. The British relied entirely on their team of Indian cooks for the preparation of Western food.

The tradition of preparing and serving Western food at state banquets was to change after independence. In search of the most exquisite Indian dishes suitable for state banquets, cooks turned to Mughal cuisine for inspiration. In the 1960s, one of the first state banquets to feature Indian dishes on the menu featured a mix of Indian and Western cuisine. It started with a French onion soup followed by biryani with dum aloo and naan and ended with a British style tutti-frutti dessert.

Rashtrapati Bhavan Cuisine is committed to showcasing a rich and diverse regional Indian culinary culture on state banquet menus. (Photo: courtesy of Rashtrapati Bhavan Photographic Archives)

Over the years, awareness of the distinctive culinary traditions of different regions of India has grown. The first families also played a major role in transforming the culinary repertoire of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Significant contributions began to flow during the presidency of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1974-77), when the first lady, Begum Abida Ahmed, encouraged cooks to be good at their craft and launched information sessions before each banquet. . She made sure that the Presidential Kitchen offered guests the best quality Awadhi food such as murgh nihari, dumbukht biryani and sheermal puffs.

First Lady Usha Narayanan (1997-2002) continued the legacy and took a keen interest in introducing South Indian dishes such as mini idlis and vadas to menus, thus challenging the dominance of the cuisines of northern India and the northwest border in banquets. The initiative had two results. He not only introduced lighter starter options (medium sized meals) for a good balance of menus, but also significantly contributed to increasing the culinary collection of the Bhavan. At a banquet in honor of then-Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf in July 2001, the dessert served was Kerala’s ada pradhaman, a coconut and rice pudding traditionally eaten. during the harvest festival of Onam.

When designing the menu, we kept two key elements in mind: adapting to the dietary needs of the athletes and presenting in front of them a range of regional and international flavors. (Photo: courtesy of Rashtrapati Bhavan Photographic Archives)

Such considerations on the various aspects of food stimulate the creativity of chefs. We tasted it recently. This year, a day before the “at home” event, as part of the Republic Day celebrations, the food analysis committee made up of senior officials suggested adding a twist to the subz shami kebab for the make it more tempting. We had to act fast to create something surprising and appealing. The main challenge was to provide excellent, error-free service while on time for meal preparation and pickup. What came to the rescue was the advice of my mentor chefs during my early days in the culinary career – the importance of food flavors and scents and the warmth they can add. After a little round of discussion and the analysis of different combinations of flavors and aromas, we decided to include the red beet ki shami in the menu. It was an unusual mix of ingredients but to our surprise it turned out to be the most popular dish of the day.

The dessert was a combination of rava kesari and pistachio baklava, a fusion of classic Indo-Western symphonies. (Photo: courtesy of Rashtrapati Bhavan Photographic Archives)

Although Rashtrapati Bhavan cuisine is committed to displaying a rich and diverse regional Indian food culture on state banquet menus, a “modernist movement” has also been started to reinvent local specialties. The aim is to expand the possibilities of Indian cuisine by using modern cooking techniques, global influences and presentation styles to enhance the visual and sensory aspects of dishes while retaining their traditional essence. Smoked lentils and quinoa skewers, kasundi fish tikka with beet hummus and gunpowder dhokla with raw papaya chutney are some of the dishes that have featured on Rashtrapati Bhavan menus lately and they have been much appreciated by the dignitaries.

(Mukesh Kumar is Executive Chef at Rashtrapati Bhavan)