Tanaz Godiwalla is the undisputed high priestess of Parsi wedding catering. Families are known to call Godiwalla before they book a venue or finalise the guest list. We wouldn’t be surprised if a few of them inform Godiwalla of the date before they telephone close relatives. After all, her catering services are so much in demand that her appointments diary is already packed with commitments until December 2014.

Godiwalla Caterers have been the community favourites for over four decades now. “Both my parents were great cooks; we had this tradition of cook-offs in which my siblings and I got to decide who made the better meal,” said Godiwalla whose father Rohinton and mother Freny set up a small canteen in Colaba’s Cusrow Baug in 1965. Their business gradually grew to become a catering service dedicated to weddings and Navjotes (a thread ceremony during which a child is inducted into Zoroastrianism). Tanaz Godiwalla took charge of the business in 1991, at the age of 21. Today, she single-handedly manages a staff of 350 people, and between November and March every year, she caters as many as 150 weddings and Navjotes a month. Godiwalla takes the rest of the year off to travel and attend to her table grape farm in Nashik.

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