Finger-licking experience for foodies

Street Food just got a big boost when National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) celebrated the spirit of Delhi and its love for street food, at the National Street food festival at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium recently.

NASVI is a leading platform of street vendors which tries to help them showcase their culinary skills at a common ground and also to preserve and promote the social-cultural diversity of India.

The four-day festival was inaugurated by the celebrated chef Sanjeev Kapoor, who himself claims to be an admirer of the country’s varied street foods. He and some chefs from other states conducted food demonstrations for the fans. The festival saw the participation of nearly 20 states out of which Goa, Telengana, Jharkhand were among the states which participated for the first time with their culinary delicacies.

“Even though we have come here for the first time, we are receiving a tremendous response. People are liking our traditional Jharkhandi food especially Barra, Dhuska. I am very thankful to the organisers for giving us this opportunity” says Albert Ekka, chef at Jharkhand stall.

 Chef Kunal Kapoor, who shot to fame from the reality show--Master Chef India, conducted a discussion on street food of India.

This year the food festival was mindful about maintaining the hygiene while cooking, serving and eating the food. ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ had a major impact on the organisers who installed a number of dustbins, washrooms and a hand-washing booth for ensuring all round hygiene and cleanliness at the venue.

In keeping with the cleanliness, ‘Swachh Pakwan, Swachh Zaika’ was introduced as the motto of the festival. “The food vendors should realise their potential and also if they are able to serve hygienic food and the presentation and taste is good then there is big market for them” says Arvind Singh, one of the national organisers of the festival.

“The customers too should realise the importance of hygiene and should not miss out on tasty food and authentic delicacies, hence we have organised this festival” he adds.

The festival featured a lot of diverse food items from the length and breadth of the country like different types of tea, rice cake and pancakes from Assam, Mushroom Pitha, Gud Pitha, Khassi Bhaat from Jharkhand and from Karnataka Kalmi kebab, mutton kebab, and the famous Chicken 65 etc.

An alliance of 888 street vendor organisations from 23 states of India, NASVI has been encouraging the ‘right to livelihood’ of street food vendors.