Tanaz Godiwala: My dream is to build a global empire of Parsi food

Date

September 30, 2021

Post by

arZan

Parsi Institutionand brilliant multi-generational caterer Tanaz Godiwala speaks to food blogger Kalyan Karmarkar on all things Parsi cuisine.

I am proud to present to you the legendary Tanaz Godiwala in this episode of #FoodocracyForHer Tanaz Godiwala is considered to be the ‘queen of Parsi catering.’ She is the second generation owner of the fifty year old Godiwala Catering. The establishment was started by her parents in 1969, the year in which Tanaz was born. She has been running it for the past three decades, taking on the reins of the business at a young age after her father, Rohinton Godiwala, passed on. Her mother, Freni, held her hand through those rocky days and since then Tanaz has ensured that the business soared higher and higher. India went into its first lockdown a year back in March 2020. There have hardly been hardly any lagan or navjot banquets since then, with the pandemic taking over our lives. What became of the Godiwalas, the famous wedding caterers? “There were times when I felt like crying,” Tanaz told me in the interview. “Then I began work on things that I did not get the time for earlier. I have made packaged Parsi pickles and condiments based on my recipes.

These can be used by anyone, vegetarian or non-vegetarian, in their own way, to bring in the taste of Parsi food to their kitchens.” The brand is called A Parsi Affair by Tanaz Godiwala and its products can be ordered from across the country and hopefully someday, across the world. “I want to build a global empire of Parsi cuisine,” said Tanaz to me. The hurt of the year that went by showed in her eyes, even through a Zoom interview. Replaced immediately by a look of steely determination.