CHENNAI: For visitors at the Food Festival held at Marina Beach near V House on Sunday, the experience was an unsavoury one as they had to wait in long queues and also go hungry owing to the prepaid card payment system, limited food availability, and inadequate seating arrangements.
The festival, which showcased food from various districts, drew a decent crowd but many visitors who waited in long queues said dishes ran out quickly.
Anandhi S (26) from Avadi, who visited the event said, “Despite knowing it’s the weekend, they ran out of food early. I waited in the queue for half-an-hour and by 2pm when I reached the stall to buy brinji, they said it was over and only curd rice was left. They could have managed the situation better by checking quantities and informing people in the queue to avoid long waits,” she said.
Another visitor, Pavithra T (27), noted a decline in food portions as the day progressed. “At 12:30pm, the Dindigul biryani quantity that was served was good, but by 3pm, the portions were smaller. They were managing with what was available,” she said.
Vegetarian visitors said that they felt sidelined as announcements highlighted non-vegetarian food availability, especially biryani. Space constraint was another issue, as people were seen eating on the road due to lack of seating and adequate standing tables. The crowd also affected traffic movement in the evening.
Tamilarasi V, 30, recalled better arrangements at the 2022 food festival held at Island Grounds. “We had enough space and could try more dishes there as stalls accepted digital payment and cash. Here, the card recharge and scanning system has made the process slower and waits longer, limiting what we can try.”
Despite these issues, many praised the festival’s effort to bring diverse regional cuisines to one place by encouraging women entrepreneurs and also offering a homemade taste.
Some visitors said that they found the absence of beef biryani hard to overlook. Amid the crowd at a billing counter, a visitor’s voice remarked, “It seems we don’t have beef biryani. we can maybe try Madurai Kari Dosai.” The absence of this dish was reminiscent of the 2022 food festival, where it had been missing initially. However, officials that TNIE spoke to confirmed that other beef dishes were on the menu including beef cutlets served as evening snacks.