THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Lighting the fire at a makeshift stove for the savoury Chettinad special ‘kuli paniyaram’, Minister for Labour Shibu Baby John inaugurated the food festival at Santhigiri Fest-2012 on Wednesday. Donning the spatula at the makeshift stove dressed in traditional sarees were experts from Chettinad.
The Chettinad Special food stall at the food fest will feature several mouth-watering delights. At the snacks and pickles stall set up by Gurumahima, the young girls’ division of the Santhigiri Arts and Culture Department, specialities like ‘yam & dates pickle’ and ‘dates laddu’ abound.
Exotic vegetarian dishes from diverse cuisines will be made available at the venue from Thursday. The Prananam naturopathic food stall serves natural and healthy food items like ‘vegetable puttu’, ‘coriander yogurt’ and non-fermented ‘dosa’ and ‘appam.’
The inaugural meeting was presided over by Karamana Jayan, BJP district president. Swami Vandanaroopan Jnana Thapaswi, in-charge of the ashram’s Grihashtashrama Sangham, welcomed the gathering and Santhigiri Ashram HR Department general manager Dr K R Sukumaran Nair proposed the vote of thanks.
Manikkal grama panchayat development standing committee chairman Kuthirakulam Jayan, CPI Manikkal local committee secretary S M Raazi and Pothencode grama panchayat member Salahuddin also spoke.