JOIN USBengaluru is not just popular for its golden crispy dosas and filter coffee. There is much more to this City, say a group of people who explore the bylanes of the City’s oldest areas to indulge in exciting flavours of cuisines. A cultural experience- driven company, ‘Unhurried’ organises food walks which explore the nook and corner of the City to discover interesting tales, history and the cultural aspect attached to a cuisine.
The walks are led by Mansoor Ali, an architect by profession. “The aim of these walks is to introduce new people in the City to good old Bengaluru. A lot of places in the City have been forgotten and ignored. We want to retell those tales and relish the old side of the City. We conduct food walks only in the old areas so that people are aware about the original Bengalruru food as well as some of its iconic food joints. We learnt that people want to go to places other than malls to entertain themselves and that there is a tremendous craze for good food in Bengaluru,” says Ali.
The journey is not about ‘food’ but about an experience that one can never forget. Understanding the history of a place is much more interesting when told through food. Previously, the group had organised Basavanagudi and Malleswaram food walks, where they explored Vidyarthi Bhavan, Veena Stores, CTR among others. One such walk was where a group of 14 people relished some mouth-watering ‘biryani’ in Fraser Town. During the ‘Unhurried Biryani Walk’, the group sampled different types of ‘biryani’ like Bhatkali, Awadhi, Hyderabadi, Kutchi Memoni, Shaiya made out of vermicelli, the legendary Bangalore biryani and the mutton ‘biryani’ at Rahham’s.
The walk helped in discovering the snippets of the local history of the area. Fraser Town is known for its linguistic and ethnic diversity. Despite, the commercial and modernity aspect, the area retains its relic past. Fraser Town has a range of old food spots that needed to be explored and biryani is quite popular here. It is cooked in several different ways and each has a unique flavour to it which was unknown to many people. The walk led to discover these interesting tales and have desserts comprising the most delicious khoya naans, halwa puris and the best kulfi in town.
Bibhuti Bhusan, one of the walkers, says, “The best part about this walk was that we could sample more varieties of biryani in a single walk. It would not have been possible if I had to eat alone. I discovered a lot about Muslim cuisines in Fraser Town and relished some unique dishes like malida, halwa puri, chaube puri, khoya naan, muzaffar ka meetha and also discovered restaurants in the area which specialises in Bhatkali cuisine.”
Priti, another member, feels that walks like this not only give us an idea about what food exists in the bylanes of the City but also understand the City better. “I have been living in Bengaluru from the past two years and I have always been keen on exploring the City. But when I came here, I could not find anyone who could show me around the City. After going for one the walks, I explored the nitty-gritties of the city and the fact that there is much more to it than pubs and malls. With walks like this, we get to meet new people and make new friends.”