Weddings with brides decked up in gold? Passe. A hundred courses of food at the reception? Old. Chariots? Bikes? Exorbitant gifts? Nope, that’s not the mark of a luxury wedding anymore.
It’s gold leaves laid out over a bed of rice.
Yes, literal gold leaves, made of 24 carat gold.
The latest viral video that’s leaving people speechless is of a meal during a wedding ritual in Hyderabad, where the caterer decided to lay out gold leaves on the rice served during the Aratti Akku Bhojanam - the meal served on plantain leaves.
In what could well become a new trend in wedding feats, V Sai Radha Krishna, a caterer based in Hyderabad, decided to feed the guests gold because his client asked for something different.
The video shared by him, of guests eating rice with gold, which melts after being placed on hot steamed rice still continues to be shared widely on whatsapp.
Take a look for yourself:
Inspired by Hyderabadi-paans, wherein a few shops sell paans wrapped in gold leaf (a flimsy foil made from extracts of gold), this man attempted to try the same with rice.
“It is not new to have gold. People have been eating sweets wrapped in gold leaf and silver leaf. I tried the same with rice. I knew that gold leaf will melt on hot steamed rice. I just tried it, and it worked well,” Sai says.
Sai has been in the catering business for over 15 years. His list of high-profile clients includes names like BJP MP Gali Janardhan Reddy, whose daughter had an extravagant wedding worth Rs 500 crore.
The video is from 2016. Sai, in a casual conversation with one of his high-profile clients in Banjara Hills, was asked to make something very different to stun their guests, who included many foreign nationals. During the conversation, Sai suggested serving them regular traditional Aratti Aaku Bhojanam, however with a gold leaf.
He says that he made no special effort to buy these gold leaves. “They are commonly available in old city (Hyderabad),” he says. (The leaves are also available on Amazon, just in case you want to eat some.)
The gold leaf doesn’t have any flavour or taste, and is considered ‘biologically inert’, which means it doesn’t get absorbed in the digestive tract.
So how much does it cost to make your guests poop out gold?
“It’s just Rs 250-300 extra per plate,” Sai reveals.
He says that it was the only occasion where he tried it, and wishes to make it his USP (unique selling point/proposition), if many clients approach him for it.
While Gold leaves have been used in India for wrapping sweets and paan, this is the first time we've heard of it being served on a bed of rice.