Food deliveries and takeaways: Why packaging is the new plating

 Eateries are trying to replicate the restaurant experience at home and opting for eco-friendly packaging to cater to more environment-friendly customers

As the pandemic made most fine-diners diversify into home delivery of food, there ensued a proliferation of cloud kitchens as well as takeaways. However, what most still missed was the experience of eating out. Even as utmost care was being taken by chefs to recreate the same flavours for the patrons, it was hard to distinguish between a neighbourhood cook and five-star chef when it came to packaged food.

It is to bridge this gap that high-end restaurants are focussing on packaging and presentation, says Gurugram-based Chef Bakshish Dean, Co-Founder at Culinary Quotient, a food consultancy. Dean says, “While the first phase of lockdown made restaurants venture into food deliveries, the next phase made them sit up and think harder about how to ensure that the food – when it reaches the patrons’ dining table – looks good and tastes fresh.”