Indian cuisine is as varied as its culture; in fact, each plate tastes as diverse as the people. Gastronomes have perhaps made expeditions to a few states in search of that next mouth-watering morsel, but the vast distances have always been a barrier. The Saras Food Festival—it started on October 28 and will continue till November 10—which has been organised by the Union Ministry of Rural Development at the Handicraft Bhawan, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, Connaught Place, removes any geographical limitation, with stalls from states across the country at arm’s length from each other. From Dal Baati Choorma, Pyaaz Kachori and Dal Kachori from Rajasthan and Rajma Chawal as well as Bajre Ki Khichdi from Haryana to Hyderabadi Dum Biryani from Telangana, Kappa Fish Curry from Kerala among other delicacies, the cuisines one can enjoy here are diverse—regional dishes have been prepared by women of self-help groups across 17 states.
Delicacies galore
We visited the festival on Saturday, only to witness a huge footfall of foodies. ‘Mujhe Rajasthan ka daal-baati try karna hai’, exclaimed a young visitor to her friend. Talking to us about the event and the success it has been, CL Kataria, a representative of the Ministry of Rural Development, shared, “We have about 150 women across self-help groups from 17 states participating in this event. The idea of this food festival is to maintain the traditional recipes of villages that are slowly vanishing because of how they [recipes] are getting diluted. Also, you will get to experience the flavours of India within a range of about 300-400m. It’s almost like India has gathered in one space; it’s almost like being in a row to relish food from across regions.”
The various stalls in this festival have been set up by women of self-help groups. We spoke to Mugda Parkas Patil (54) from Kalyan, Maharashtra—she’s part of a six-member team—who was all smiles as she spoke about this being her first-time in Delhi. She said, “This is nice [the experience]. We have Komri Vada, Bhakri, Puran Poli, and a lot from Maharashtra in our stall.” Anil Kumar (36), who was also part of a six-member team at the Andhra stall, spoke to us about how delighted he was that people loved the food. He added, “We have the Andhra-style Chicken Biryani and the Royyala Biryani or Prawn Biryani, which is special. The arrangements are great here and the staff are very co-operative.”
A foodie’s dream
Right outside the Kerala stall, we noticed four friends talking about a plate of Chicken Pathri. We walked up to Sayan Kundu (20), a design student from Indian Institute of Art and Design, Okhla, from the group, who shared, “It was my idea to come here, as I had been to a similar food festival in Delhi last. Also, I saw a reel on Instagram and told my friends that we must come here for lunch. We had the Chicken Pathri from Kerala and Chicken Biriyani from the Telangana stall. The Pathri was really nice; it was almost like Chicken Pizza, but the taste was great. The overall experience is very nice, and anyone can come here and enjoy the whole day.”
Yuri and Maayke, who landed in Delhi on holiday from the Netherlands two days ago, were seen lugging their backpacks as they wended their way through the festival. We met them at the Rajasthan stall, and when asked how they chanced upon this event, Yuri mentioned, “We saw posters and advertisements, and we thought it looked very nice. Also, we like food, so we [decided to come here].” Calling the city “beautiful”, he shared, “We just got here [to the festival] and it all looks really nice.” Maayke concluded, “The set-up is really nice. I like it very much.”
