PABULUM is the Food Festival hosted by International Institute of Hotel Management, Bangalore. A very thoughtful name given to the festival which is related to food; especially a suspension or solution of nutrients in a state suitable for absorption. This was one of a kind event because all the activities like budgeting, planning, menu selection, social media was done by the students from IIHM-Bangalore. With mentorship and guidance from the management, they pulled off a spectacular show for the audience. I was lucky to have been selected, for being part of the event.
About Pabulum
It was a Masquerade Ball that had prime focus to serving exquisite varieties of food & beverages. This food festival is part IIHM 3rd year student academic curriculum. As part of this, student is coached to plan a concept, budget the realities and execute the operation towards a successful event. It is an assessed event, put together by the students under the guidance of their mentors.
Special Invite
IIHM Bangalore students thought of unique ways to invite the guests for the Food Festival.
- The invitation was printed on a Plastic Card which looked like a credit card. It also had the QR code that displayed directions to location on scanning. The card also had the ‘Terms and Conditions’ written on it along with the address.
- Specially baked Christmas Plum cake was brought by student and delivered. For delivering the complete package, the faculty (Elizabeth) came along with 2nd year IIHM Bangalore students (Chinar Chaubal Shriyank Agarwal & Jay Sen). It was a great gesture which was very thoughtful.
- Supreet Landa (1st Year student) and Nishita (2nd Year student) were my buddies for the event. Both were there to welcome me and showed around the entire setup.
Cultural Performance
Event started off with an awesome cultural program. There had some wonderful Solo and Dance Performance, which was thoroughly entertaining. IIHM Band comprising of young & talented – Singers, Drummer, Guitarists and Keyboard. Some of the tracks that they performed were – Bulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day), Sky (Cold Play), Fitoor title-track (movie Fitoor) and many more. It is great to see such talented students performing with supreme confidence, fearlessly, in front of live audience.
Food
Tasting of Food prepared by 3rd year students was the highlight of the event. Theme for the festival was Islands. Island names used for food counters were – Green Land, Sicily, Madagascar, Lankan, Oceanic, Sicily, Lanka and Dessertas. Every counter had some great set of dishes which were very delicious. Some of my top picks included – Pumpkin Soup, Pasta Salad, Baked Vegetable Lasagne and Paneer Tikki Masala. And among the desserts – Casattas Siciliana with Honey Comb, Philadelphia Cream Cheesecake and Rum balls. The student serving, across the counter, answered any questions related to the food preparation.
One might wonder, how I was able to try out so many dishes in a crowded Food Festival. I specially need to thank, Supreet (1st year student) who got me tasting portion of dishes from individual counters.
Decorations
Paintings of Totem done by IIHM students were put up all across the hall. They also had various props used in Masquerade party. Guests could wear it and pose for selfies and pictures behind a frame. It was fun posing for picture along the students, which took me back in time.
About IIHM
International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) came to existence in 1994 and is currently head by Dr.Suborno Bose. The institute offers globally recognized International Degree in Hospitality Management.
IIHM is one of the largest Hotel School Chain in International Hospitality Management. They currently have campuses at Kolkata, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and state of the art, IIHM at KBU Bangkok.
The college can boast itself of more than 3000+ Alumni network who are working in various leading hotels across the globe.
Institute collaborates with Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) and University of West London UWL).
Organizer of World’s Biggest Culinary Heats “Young Chef Olympiad” with participation from over 50 Countries.
Young Chef Olympiad 2018
This is one of the events that has been around for more than 2 years now and has become quite popular across the globe. This year the event will see participation from student across more than 50 countries. 
Chef Sanjay Kak shared a little insight into the changes for this years event.
Participation of students from new countries – Sweden, Turkey, and France.
Vegan food is becoming popular world-wide. There would be special round where the student contestant will need to prepare a Vegan Food item.
Apart from the taste of preparation, students will be judges on various other factors. Some of the criteria would be – Least wastage of items while cooking, Presentation of the dishes, Better utilization of ingredients given and few more.
Preparation of popular dish belonging to their country, will be one of the non-competitive round. It could be National dish or a popular dish from the country. This exercise help students know more about the International cuisine.
Special team from British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) will be doing a complete documentary of the event.
The Young Chef Olympiad has become quite popular over the years. Some of the celebrities associated with the event in the past include – Chef Shaun Kenworthy, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, Chef Sanjay Kak, Chef Ranveer Brar and Chef Kunal Kapoor.
Overall Experience
Conceptualization, Planning and Execution for the Pabulum event was very good. I appreciate the effort of the students who showed a lot of enthusiasm during the entire event. Kudos to the IIHM Management and staff for guiding the students succeed. Special thanks to Mrs. Shalini Khanna Charles, Director-IIHM, Bangalore for being the leading the IIHM Bangalore to greater glory. I am very much looking forward to future events hosted by IIHM.
References
IIHM – International Institute of Hotel Management
http://iihm.ac.in/
Young Chef Olympiad
http://www.ycolympiad.com/
Pictures with IIHM Bangalore Management and Students.
Lovely post, Nameesh! Very well written. I’m sure the students and management of IIHM will greatly appreciate this gesture. 🙂
Wow, I would have loved to be present here. The pics say it all and I am sure you enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing this post.
Cheers!!
UK
Looks like you have great time. The students look very talented. The gathering look great.
wow this one too looked like a such a fun event to attend, and the invitation was certainly very unqiue and thoughtful!!!
Pabulum seems very exciting.Good to know IIHM has such a progressive curriculum.
Pabulum seems very exciting.Good to know IIHM has such a progressive curriculum.I specially liked the personal tpuch for inviting special guests.
Wow, such an amazing event. I also always loved food fest and we had it in Pune as well but missed it
This looks like great fun and all the excitement! I had a great time reading this and seeing the photographs….
Pabulum looks very interesting. I am in full support of organizations like IIHM who have such a nice curriculum.
That’s such a lovely post Nameesh. It is almost as if I’ve attended the event.
the festival looks like so much fun!! it is interesting that apart from great food, the invites and the activities were so much fun too!
Pabulum looks like such a fun event. It is good for students as it gives them good exposure.
This looks so much fun. Loved that plastic card idea and the array of decorations too.
Oh wow this looks amazing. Loved the painting that students have made. The islander names for the dishes is very creative. Envious of you having got to try all the dishes.
I am sure you must have had an amazing experience. I have heard about this from a friend of mine. It sure looks fun.
Amazing content. Thanks for sharing