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Kikkoman India Hosts 3rd Annual Culinary Experts Meetup at IHM Kolkata

More than 100 professional chefs, restaurateurs gathered and discussed about the future of Chinese cuisine in India

MUMBAI, India, April 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Kikkoman India hosted its 3rd Annual Culinary Experts Meetup on 12th March 2025 at the Institute of Hotel Management (IHM) Taratala, Kolkata, bringing together more than 100 professional chefs, restaurateurs, and culinary thought leaders and culinary students from across the country.

Leading authorities of Chinese cuisine industry in India, to name a few – Mr. Kabir Advani (CEO of Berco’s), and Mr. Anjan Chatterjee (Founder of Mainland China) – gathered in Kolkata, the home of the origin of Chinese food in India, to discuss the future of Chinese cuisine in India.

Michelin-starred Chinese Chef Ryosuke Tamura from Japan– (CEO/Executive Chef of Itsuka) also participated, and presented ‘Ran Mian Burning Noodles’, his authentic Chinese dish created using Indian ingredients and Kikkoman.

The event focused on the theme ‘Evolution of Chinese Cuisine in India – Best ingredients, Best skills, Best Know-how,’ exploring its rich history, current trends, and future possibilities. The discussions delved into how Indian-Chinese cuisine has evolved over the years, influenced by local ingredients, consumer preferences, and globalization, while highlighting the significance of using authentic ingredients such as Kikkoman Soy Sauce to refine and elevate flavours.

The event featured an engaging lineup of Keynote Conversations and Panel discussions, each offering deep insights into various aspects of Chinese cuisine in India, inspiring both top chefs and restauranteurs about the future development of Indian Chinese by drawing on global insights.

Keynote Conversation 1: The past, The present and Future of Chinese Cuisine in India

Speakers: Mr. Anjan Chatterjee– Mainland China

Mr. Bikramjit Ray– ET Hospitality

The evolution of Chinese cuisine in India, particularly in Kolkata, reflects a fusion of Chinese cooking techniques with Indian ingredients and tastes. Indian Chinese cuisine has grown into a distinct culinary identity, shaped by regional preferences, economic factors, and changing consumer expectations. While authenticity is valued, the cuisine thrives on adaptability, balancing bold, spicy, and tangy flavours that resonate with Indian palates. Globalization continues to influence its trajectory, blending tradition with innovation while maintaining its unique character.

Keynote Conversation 2: The legacy of Kolkata’s Chinese community and its role in shaping the unique Indian-Chinese culinary style

Speakers: Chef Joel Huang– Eau Chew

Mr. Harry Hakuei Kosato- Kikkoman India

The legacy of Chinese cuisine in Kolkata is deeply rooted in family-run establishments like Eau Chew, one of the city’s oldest Chinese restaurants. Generations of the Tangra community have played a vital role in shaping Indian Chinese cuisine, preserving traditional flavours and cooking methods. While evolving customer preferences and new restaurant brands have influenced the culinary landscape, the essence of Indian Chinese food remains in its home-cooked authenticity. A growing appreciation for traditional flavours is drawing people back to heritage eateries, even as they adapt by incorporating modern ingredients like Kikkoman soy sauce, blending tradition with contemporary tastes.

Panel Discussion 1: What exactly is ‘Indian-Chinese’?

Moderated by: Mr. Bikramjit Ray– ET Hospitality

Panelists: Mr. Anjan Chatterjee– Mainland China Chef Jerry Thomas– PF Chang’s Ms. Rukshana A Kapadia- Ammolite Ideators Chef Vaibhav Bhargava– Abv Hospitality Chef Jiten Acharya– Haldiram Skill Academy

Indian Chinese cuisine is a distinct fusion of Chinese cooking techniques and local Indian ingredients, evolving regionally across the country. Key ingredients like green chilies, coriander, potatoes, and capsicum, which are not traditionally used in Chinese cooking, have become defining elements of the cuisine. Its development has been shaped by ingredient availability and the Indian preference for bold, spicy, and tangy flavours. While globalization and changing consumer preferences may drive a shift towards more authentic Chinese flavours, the enduring popularity of classic Indian Chinese dishes ensures that this unique culinary style will continue to thrive.

Keynote Conversation 3: Explain how Japanese Chinese cuisine has evolved

Speakers: Chef Ryosuke Tamura– Itsuka

Harry Hakuei Kosato- Kikkoman India

Chef Ryosuke Tamura, a Michelin-starred chef from Tokyo, shared his approach to Chinese cuisine as a Japanese chef, emphasizing the importance of respecting and enhancing ingredients rather than overpowering them. He highlighted the skill required to use Kikkoman soy sauce effectively, ensuring harmony in flavours. Drawing from his experiences across different regions, he reflected on the variations in Chinese cuisine in Japan, China, and India, and how Indian Chinese cuisine could evolve by learning from these diverse perspectives. The discussion also underscored the need for education and training to help chefs better understand and utilize high-quality ingredients like Kikkoman soy sauce.

Panel Discussion 2: How ‘Indian-Chinese’ should be refined in the future – Sophistication and diversity

Moderated by: Mr. Harry Hakuei Kosato- Kikkoman India

Panelists: Mr. Kabir Advani– Berco’s, Chef Khaja Zafarulla– Kikkoman Expert Chef, Chef Ryosuke Tamura– Itsuka, Ms. Josephine Huang– Eau Chew, Chef Anthony Huang– Kalyani Techpark, Mohammed Ibrahim Akram– Beijing Bites

Some panellists felt the classic Indian Chinese dishes are still incredibly popular and successful, while others argued for moving towards more authentic flavours and higher-quality ingredients.

There’s a growing interest in using authentic ingredients and techniques, shifting away from overly heavy sauces. Kikkoman soy sauce was highlighted as a key ingredient for enhancing flavours naturally and achieving more authentic tastes, with its naturally fermented umami being preferred over artificial enhancers.

The Indian Chinese could learn from Japanese Chinese cuisine, which often has a deeper understanding of Chinese cooking techniques and ingredients. Customers are increasingly aware of ingredient quality and health concerns, driving demand for better ingredients and lighter, healthier dishes.

The future of Indian Chinese likely involves a balance. Popular traditional dishes will remain, but there’s also a strong push towards exploring more authentic flavours and using higher-quality ingredients, with products like Kikkoman playing a significant role in this shift.

Panel Discussion 3: Educating the next generation Chef about Chinese and Asian Cuisine using authentic ingredients

Moderated by: Chef Sushil Multani– Saulo Foods

Panelists: Chef Jiten Acharya– Haldiram Skill Academy, Chef Saby Gorai– Celebrity Chef, Chef Altamsh Patel- Hilton Hotel, Chef Abhiru Biswas- Eastern India Culinary Association, Chef Samuel Labher– IHM, Kolkata, Mr. Prashant Issar– Bellona Hospitality

The discussion explored the scientific foundations of cooking methods, emphasizing how chefs are increasingly studying the science behind traditional techniques. Professionals from diverse culinary backgrounds shared insights on how different cuisines influence cooking methods and ingredient perceptions. For instance, the same fish dish is prepared differently in Japanese, Indian, and French cuisines, showcasing varied approaches to technique and flavour. By integrating scientific understanding with traditional knowledge, chefs can discover new culinary possibilities, unlocking innovative flavours and refining their craft.

Kikkoman India started operations in February 2021 and launched the Kikkoman Honjozo Authentic Soy Sauce Experience programme in October of the same year. The Culinary Experts Meeting is part of the Kikkoman Honjozo Authentic Soy Sauce Experience. The goal of the event is to generate new ideas and interaction among culinary professionals through interesting discussions on food-related topics. With over 350 years of history and an unwavering commitment to India, Kikkoman aims to contribute to the creation of delicious new experiences in India for the next 100 years and beyond.

About the Kikkoman Honjozo Authentic Soy Sauce Experience in India

Kikkoman is on a mission to put a bottle of Kikkoman Soy Sauce on the shelf of every Indian kitchen. Having started to expand its operations in India, Kikkoman India is pleased to announce the Honjozo Authentic Soy Sauce Experience. The goal is to make its popular, naturally brewed Kikkoman Soy Sauce an everyday ingredient for all restaurants and households. Launching this movement across India is the first of many activities to introduce Japan’s No. 1 soy sauce brand to India.

The Honjozo Experience movement comprises three elements: Developing talent and fostering exchanges among chefs; educating everyone on the use of soy sauce through cooking sessions and contests; and learning the contribution Kikkoman Soy Sauce can make by experimenting through R & D in food culture.

Chefs are going to cook up a storm using Kikkoman Soy Sauce. From professional chefs to student chefs, all are going to experiment and learn what can be done with it. Through cooking contests, videos, talks, and workshops, the Honjozo Experience movement will bring together chefs, students, restaurants, hoteliers, the media, and industry leaders as well as government representatives to explore how Kikkoman Soy Sauce can enrich any and all dishes served in India.

About Kikkoman and Kikkoman India

With a history spanning over 350 years and based in Japan, the current Kikkoman corporate entity was established through the merger of eight families in 1917. The company’s internationalization strategy began some 60 years ago, with its entry into the United States market. Kikkoman has become a global business, expanding to over 100 countries, with 11 soy sauce production sites worldwide that distribute its products all over the world to millions of consumers.

Kikkoman India is solely responsible for importing all Kikkoman products, and is responsible for managing all production, marketing, sales, and distribution in India.

Link to Media kit – https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PlO2RqGoG_xcNeq-Cq1Puguj8_PObRqw?usp=sharing

Press Contact

Chavi Singh,

chavi@kikkomanindia.com,

+91 86554 21677 

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Reliance Digital Launches ‘Baaptaa’, a Father’s Day Campaign Celebrating the Many Expressions of Fatherhood

MUMBAI, India, June 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Reliance Digital has launched ‘Baaptaa’, a Father’s Day campaign to celebrate the many expressions of fatherhood. Built around a simple cultural observation, while “Maa ki Mamta” has long been a part of India’s collective vocabulary, there has never been a word that captures the distinct ways fathers express love, the campaign introduces ‘Baaptaa’ as a tribute to the many shades of fatherhood.

Conceptualised as an original music-led campaign, Baaptaa celebrates fathers not as idealised figures, but as they are experienced in everyday life, protective, dependable, emotional, quirky, practical, occasionally embarrassing, and always present. Through a relatable narrative, the campaign acknowledges the countless ways fathers care for their families, often through actions rather than words.

Watch Video: https://youtu.be/9XyUsJB33Ds?si=PM67vhxrzth1JEkz 

At the heart of the campaign is an original music video told from a father’s perspective, capturing the different roles he plays across life’s moments and milestones. The film brings to life the humour, warmth and unspoken affection that characterise father-child relationships, while giving a name to a form of love that many recognise but few have articulated.

The campaign stems from a simple insight: while motherhood has often found expression through familiar phrases and popular references, the unique language of fatherhood has remained largely undefined. Baaptaa seeks to fill that gap by creating a term that reflects the everyday gestures, practical wisdom and quiet sacrifices that fathers make.

Father’s Day communication often leans into familiar emotional territory, but Reliance Digital’s campaign celebrates fathers in a way that feels more culturally authentic and relatable. The idea for ‘Baaptaa’ came from a simple observation — mother’s love has been immortalised in a number of heartfelt, emotional songs, there needed to be an anthem dedicated to dad’s love. And thus was born Baaptaa – a love language that is often awkward, practical, protective, humorous and deeply felt, even if rarely verbalised. It’s a celebration of fatherhood in all its wonderfully imperfect forms immortalized by a song that you won’t be able to stop humming.

Shop for the widest range of electronics at Reliance Digital and thank your father for his Baaptaa.

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Harper Collins Publishers India is Delighted to Announce the Recent Publication of ‘People We Love’ by Preeti Shenoy

NEW DELHI, June 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — HarperCollins Publishers India is delighted to share the recent publication of People We Love by bestselling author Preeti Shenoy. At once tender and sharp, this collection of stories offers intimate, truthful and relatable portraits of the people we cherish, the ones we lose, and the people we become.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The people we love never truly leave our story…

In these tender yet piercing stories, Preeti Shenoy returns to some of her most beloved characters to reveal who they were before they appeared in her bestselling novels It’s All in the Planets and The One You Cannot Have.

Aniket, a coder, carries the weight of a longing for Trisha that he cannot bring himself to act on. Nidhi abandons her corporate life to teach pottery, only to discover that clay is far more forgiving than the people she loves. A quiz competition sparks an unlikely romance between Aman and Shruti, one that must withstand parental disapproval and class divides. And Anjali, a journalist, is so busy chasing stories that she almost misses the one unfolding in her own life.

Set against the pulse of contemporary India, People We Love explores the tug-of-war between duty and desire, family and freedom, who we are and who we dare to be. Intimate and deeply felt, these are stories about love that stays, leaves and almost slips away … love that quietly and irrevocably shapes the people we become.

Preeti Shenoy, author, says, “People We Love is a collection of three long stories, prequels to my bestsellers It’s All in the Planets and The One You Cannot Have. If you have read those books, you already know how these characters’ stories unfold. But what you don’t know yet is where it all began, the loves they carried, the choices they made, and the people they were before life shaped them into who you met on those pages. Writing these prequels felt like returning to a home I hadn’t realised I missed, and discovering rooms I had never been in before.”

Rashmi Menon, Associate Publisher – HarperCollins India, adds, “Preeti Shenoy has an extraordinary gift for finding the heartbeat of ordinary lives. People We Love is a warm, wise and deeply humane collection of short stories that reunites readers with favourite characters from her bestselling novels It’s All in the Planets and The One You Cannot Have, weaving them into fresh, deeply satisfying narratives. These characters feel like people you know, and their journeys will move, comfort and surprise you. This uplifting, thought–provoking collection reminds us why we turn to stories in the first place. We couldn’t be more excited to share it with our readers.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Preeti Shenoy is among the highest-selling authors in India. She was featured on the Forbes longlist of the most influential celebrities in India. Her books include When Love Came Calling, Wake Up Life, Is Calling, Life Is What You Make It, The Rule Breakers, A Hundred Little Flames, It’s All in the Planets, Why We Love the Way We Do, The Secret Wish List, The One You Cannot Have and many others. Her work has been translated into many Indian languages. Preeti is also a motivational speaker, an avid fitness enthusiast, and an artist specializing in portraiture and illustrated journalling. Preeti lives in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

ABOUT HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS INDIA

At HarperCollins Publishers India, we believe in telling the best stories and ensuring they reach the widest readership. We publish around 250 new books every year across 10 imprints, adding to a diverse catalogue of more than 3,000 titles in print and digital formats, with an array of genres and voices that ensure there is a book for every reader. Our authors have won some of the most prestigious literary awards, and we are proud to publish many acclaimed writers, alongside new and emerging voices shaping contemporary literature. We are also the publishers of The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, winner of the Booker Prize 2008, and Girl in White Cotton by Avni Doshi, shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020, and HarperCollins India itself has been awarded “Publisher of the Year” several times. In addition, we represent some of the finest global publishers such as Harvard University Press, Lonely Planet, Oneworld, Nosy Crow, Usborne, and National Geographic Children, bringing Indian readers access to world-class books and ideas. We are also proud to be certified as a Great Place to Work for two consecutive years, a recognition of our culture, people, and values that make HarperCollins India a truly inspiring workplace. 

PRESS CONTACT:

Nandini Tripathi, Manager – Marketing (Commercial)

Email: nandini.tripathi@harpercollins.co.in | Mobile: +91 9718928839

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Fulfilling PM Modi’s Dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat: India’s AI Writing Startup Kreativespace Incubated at IIT Kharagpur

  1. Kreativespace, an Indian AI-powered writing platform founded by Vinet Kakadea, has been incubated at IIT Kharagpur and recognized by SVNIT University, Ministry of Education under Bodhan AI Conclave also through the NVIDIA Inception Program, AWS Startup Program, and DPIIT under Startup India.
  2. The platform unifies 8 AI-powered writing tools, along with AI Humanizer and Message AI feature being the latest addition into a single ecosystem, so you can generate and refine content all in one place.
  3. The company reports more than 50,000+ signed-up users, 75,000+ anonymous users, and roughly 100,000 monthly website visitors, positioning itself as the only Indian company operating at scale in the global AI writing market.

SURAT, India, June 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Kreativespace, an AI-powered writing platform, is building out its position as the only homegrown alternative in a market long dominated by international tools such as Grammarly and QuillBot. Founded by Vinet Kakadea and incubated at IIT Kharagpur, the company has aligned its growth with the broader push behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) initiative, which encourages indigenous technology development capable of competing on a global scale.

Kreativespace Incubated at IIT Kharagpur

As AI adoption accelerates across India’s education, research, and enterprise sectors, Kreativespace is among a small group of Indian startups building writing technology designed to compete directly with established international platforms.

Kreativespace’s progress has been recognized by several institutions central to India’s startup and technology ecosystem. The company has been incubated at IIT Kharagpur, selected under SSIP 2.0 through SVNIT University, and chosen by the Ministry of Education to present its work at the Bodhan AI Conclave. It has also been accepted into the NVIDIA Inception Program and the AWS Startup Program, and holds DPIIT recognition under the Startup India initiative.

Where many writing-tool users rely on separate subscriptions for content generation to refinement for grammar correction, paraphrasing, plagiarism checking, citation generation, and editing, Kreativespace brings these functions into a single platform as a super-app for AI writing tools. The company says its approach centers on affordability and accessibility alongside performance, aiming to make advanced AI writing assistance available to a wider range of users regardless of geography or budget.

The idea for Kreativespace took shape while founder Vinet Kakadea was studying at New York University and Marymount University in the United States, where he experienced firsthand how students, researchers, and professionals often need multiple paid subscriptions to cover writing-related tasks. That fragmented experience led him to build a super-app offering each of these capabilities together, at a more accessible price point.

Kreativespace combines 8 AI-powered writing tools with AI Humanizer and Message AI feature being the latest addition, allowing users to generate, rewrite, refine, and humanize content without moving between separate platforms. The product is available via web platform, mobile apps on the App Store and Google Play, browser extensions for Chrome, Mozilla, and Edge, and a Google Docs add-on.

Vinet Kakadea, Founder of Kreativespace, said, “Kreativespace’s vision is to digitalize the entire Indian education ecosystem to support PM Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme.”

About Kreativespace

Kreativespace with the Motto of Making Writing Accessible for Everyone: Kreativespace is an AI-powered writing platform built to make AI writing tools accessible, affordable, and effective for students, researchers, educators, professionals, content creators, startups, and enterprises. Founded by Vinet Kakadea, the company is incubated at IIT Kharagpur and has been recognized by AWS Startup Program, the NVIDIA Inception Program, and DPIIT under Startup India. For more information, visit kreativespace.com.

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