The Indian Federation of Culinary Associations (IFCA), a body of professional chefs in India, has joined hands with Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI), a trade and investment promotion body under the department of commerce, Government of India, to launch a dedicated programme to create a pool of Indian culinary ambassadors in different parts of the world. An MoU has been signed by the two organisations in this regard during the recently concluded IndusFood 2025 expo in Delhi.
The program envisions to host 25 to 30 chefs from select countries of the world for a week-long curated training and workshop around the IndusFood expo every year starting from 2026 edition of the food and beverage exposition to enable them to work as Indian culinary ambassadors in their respective countries.
Talking about it, chef Vijayabaskaran, general secretary of IFCA said that the chef federation will shoulder the responsibility of selecting the chefs, curating the curriculum for the training and also selecting and ready a suitable centre for the training.
“IFCA will design the curriculum for this. We are proposing a seven to 10-day training programme where selected chefs will have an immersive experience in Indian cuisines and food culture. The intention is to prepare them to go back and work as ambassadors of Indian cuisine in their respective countries,” Bhaskaran said.
“Indian chefs cook food of other countries and cultures. We want chefs from other countries to also cook our food like Indian chefs cook their food. In the process, we want to create a market for our farmers, food processors and manufacturers as well globally,” he added.
Bhaskaran said IFCA has been working closely with the IndusFood for the last couple of editions and the attempt is to broadbase the partnership through the International Indian Centre for Culinary Excellence.
Commenting on the MoU, Sandip Das, deputy director general of TPCI said that the council has been working closely with the IFCA since the 2024 edition of IndusFood and hosting international chefs. In the recently concluded 2025 edition of the show, IndusFood has hosted the Asian President Forum 2025 which was attended by presidents of chef associations of over 20 countries from Asia.
If Indian agri and food products have to be promoted in other countries, it is important that chefs are trained in the use of Indian ingredients in cooking, he said, adding that there is a lack of knowledge and awareness about Indian cuisines in many countries of Africa and Latin America and Indian restaurants in many of these countries are not run by Indian chefs. Das said that the endeavour is to bridge this gap through this targeted programme.
He said that they plan to launch the training programme from the IndusFood 2026 edition.
