Wellington
on a Plate (WOAP), an annual food festival in Wellington, New Zealand
is a winter-warming two-week extravagance of all things food and
beverage. The festival glorifies gastronomic delights
with the tastiest foods from all over the region. Visa Wellington On a
Plate is organized across various venues in Wellington from 10-26 August
2018.
This
year at the festival, delicacies from across India were introduced by
The Temple Celebration at the One80 restaurant in collaboration with
Nalini Baruch, co-owner, Lot Eight, a home-grown enterprise dealing in premium virgin extra olive oils. She was accompanied by
Chetan Pangam, Executive Chef, One80 Restaurant
(Copthorne Hotel Wellington). With origins in Karnataka, Chetan
worked as a chef at some of the most luxurious hotels in Bangalore,
Mumbai and New Delhi before bringing the flavours of India to New
Zealand in 2002.
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| Nalini Baruch and chef, Chetan paying their respects to Lord Ganesha. PC- Tourism New Zealand |
Nalini Baruch, born in a deeply religious and culturally rich Indian family,
has an elevated outlook on diversity and culture with a holistic view of religions in India.
The
Temple Celebration was Nalini’s effort to introduce an experience and a
new dimension to WOAP events on its 10th anniversary. She says,
“The idea was to provide a taste of India and to build on this concept
for the future, to bring different aspects of what makes India such an
attractive country.”
The
entire festivities were an amalgamation of culture and cuisine,
incorporating traditional aspects into the contemporary setting. The
food serving style and presentation by
Chetan embraced some of the temple practises inspired from across North,
South, East, West and Central India.
Chetan says,
“My team of chefs that helped me create the magic come from a varied
background. True to our ethos of progressive Indian French cuisine, the
delicacies were prepared using some of the best ingredients from New
Zealand.”
Nalini Baruch of Lot Eight is a pioneer in the New Zealand olive oil industry
and co-owner of arguably the leading producer of olive oil in the Greater Wellington Region. She was awarded the 2016 Pacific Woman in Business Award at the
National Pacific Business Trust Awards dinner in Auckland. She is
recognised for her vision and unwavering adherence to her own values of
quality, customer and supplier commitment, integrity and
professionalism.
 |
| A young artist seen performing an elegant Bharatnatyam dance. PC- Tourism New Zealand |
Today,
Wellington dubbed the world’s ‘coolest little capital’ continues to
have a strong Indian community which is seen through participation
in local sport, music, art and varied range of cultural festivals.
Almost 10% of Wellington residents are Indian, meaning the city has the
second biggest Indian population in New Zealand.
Visa
Wellington on A Plate is an immaculate platform for food enthusiasts to
showcase their passion and create traditional yet urbane cuisines
to the Wellington community. Visitors also get to experience a
smorgasbord of tastes, experiences and innovations in the heart of the
city of Wellington.
Additional Information
Tourism New Zealand
markets New Zealand to the world as a visitor destination. In the year
ending May 2018, 3.8 million international visitors arrived in New
Zealand: an increase of 5.3% on the previous year. International tourism
is New Zealand’s largest earner of foreign exchange,
pumping over $14.5 billion into the economy and directly employing over
188,000 people.
www.tourismnewzealand.com
Visa procedure: One
may forward their application to the TT office in Mumbai or Delhi,
which will then be directed to Immigration New Zealand. A visitor visa
for New Zealand is processed within 15 working days.
www.immigration.govt.nz
Indian
leisure travellers can benefit from a faster processing time of three
days when applying for their visa
via one of the Tourism Industry Partnership (TIP) Programme agents:
Thomas Cook (India) Pvt. Ltd, SOTC Travel Limited, Cox & Kings Ltd.
and Kulin Kumar Holidays.
Airline connections: Connecting
flights to New Zealand are available on Singapore Airlines/Air New
Zealand, Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific and Malaysia Airlines with
stop-overs in their respective hubs. New Zealand’s international
gateways are Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown.
Domestic services: You
can fly between all New Zealand cities and most major towns using
domestic air services. Air New Zealand and Jetstar are the main
providers. Their services are complemented by regional airlines, charter
companies and scenic flight operators.
For more information, kindly check:
- Website: newzealand.com/in
