"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art,” said French writer Francois de la Rochefoucauld over 350 years ago. His quote is cited in the 25th anniversary issue of the quarterly UpperCrust which states it is India’s first food and wine magazine. "The food world was just starting to stir” when the publication was launched, mentions founder editor and publisher Farzana Contractor in the Fourth Quarter 2024 issue. Her husband Behram, the widely read and popular columnist for the erstwhile The Evening News, mid-day and founder editor of the now defunct The Afternoon Despatch and Courier, "prophesied that India was on the cusp of a culinary recognition. Soon we would capture the world’s imagination with our diverse cuisine.”
Top: Farzana Contractor (6th from r) cutting the cake at UpperCrust’s 25th anniversary party;
above, from l: Contractor with chef Sanjeev Kapoor; Farzana and Behram Contractor
Noted journalist and columnist Bachi Karkaria, writing on the anniversary at Parsiana’s request noted, "The milestone acknowledged the niche that Farzana has carved for herself — virtually single-handed. Apart from UpperCrust’s lush production values, she writes (and photographs) almost every piece in the issue or interviews the range of people who make it to its cover, travelling indefatigably to do so. She also orchestrates the annual UpperCrust Food and Wine Show. And I’m not even going into her literal pet project, Dogs & More. Less known is her serious reading. Her longtime Girl Friday is Rozina Ghaziyani.
"The UpperCrust 25th anniversary party on January 18, 2025 at Bombay’s Blue Sea was as impressive in its guests as in its groaning tables, I’m not speaking of the A List that turned out to the last shimmer, but the sheer size of India’s food brigade which made the effort to attend. They included chefs, food and beverage managers as well as general managers and vice presidents such as ITC Maurya’s Gautam Anand who have put their stamp on hotel spreads, serious writers (as opposed to the bloggers whose knowledge is in inverse proportion to their ubiquitous presence) and those passionate individuals, such as Mohammed Khan and Prahlad Kakkar, for whom ‘love, pray and eat’ is a single entity.
"‘You’ve come a long way, baby,’” was written for her, the lissome Byculla girl who swept the 30 years older, confirmed bachelor Behram Contractor off his feet. (Though that image is difficult to summon for the slouching, lanky, almost-brittle, taciturn columnist, Busybee, who had encapsulated the city in his "Round and About” column every single day for years). The laidback journo would never have dragged himself out of his typewriter-contoured comfort zone. The drive was all Farzana’s.
"After his passing in 2001, aged 71, she remains dedicated to his memory, valiantly recycling his columns, always has ‘Behram’ as her middle name. Yes, she clambered aboard his prodigious journalist reputation in the 1980s. Yes, it was Behram, conscious of his own age — and smoke-savaged lungs — who pushed her to start UpperCrust knowing that this would showcase her talents more than a grubby eveninger. But, honestly? Behram owes her more.”