Two terms that we recommend, catering sales managers avoid while selling Indian weddings are:
- naan bread
- chai tea
Why? Because they’re incorrect. The correct terms are simply, naan and chai.
{Let’s talk about Naan and Chai}
Naan IS bread. And calling it “naan bread” is the equivalent of calling toast, “toast bread”….which nobody does. Naan is bread cooked in a tandoor, and toast is bread cooked in a toaster. The bread part of toast is implied, as it should be for naan as well.
Similarly, chai IS tea. When I hear someone say “chai tea”, what I’m really hearing is “tea tea”. Chai is a type of tea, similar to how cappuccino or latte are types of coffee. Chai has certain ingredients and is cooked a certain way, in much the same way as cafe au lait vs. espresso have their unique characteristics.
{Descriptors Lead to Adoption}
Naan and chai are food and beverage that are relatively new to the American diet and the Western world in general – hence the extraneous descriptors at the end of naan and chai. Those descriptors are there for people who aren’t familiar with those words and don’t know what they mean. Years from now, at some point, the “bread” and “tea’ will probably be dropped as they will be universally understood that naan IS bread and chai IS tea.
This article is meant to get you ahead of the curve faster because you work with South Asians in your work everyday.
By using the terms correctly you demonstrate that you’ve done your homework and taken the time to understand the culture that much more.
All this food talk is making us hungry! Speaking of which, here are lists of Indian wedding caterers (and all vendors) across the US and Canada. Cheers!
This article is part of ShaadiShop’s series

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“Cannot say enough good things about the service from Samta and ShaadiShop who helped us research venues for our wedding this year. We wanted a non-hotel venue, and to get married within 6 months. ShaadiShop immediately found us venues, contacted them and educated us about all the things we needed to think about while selecting a venue. They put all the info together in a fabulous, super impressive, spreadsheet that helped us compare venues – seriously amazing and such a great help. Working with them made the whole stressful process MUCH easier and I can’t believe it was all free! ShaadiShop’s website is fantastic and such a great service for South Asians – so glad I found them!”
Anjli Shah, Bride
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cover image: Geeta Randery Photography