Tickle your taste buds with variety of delicacies at Dasara food festival

9-day event will also include seminars, interaction on govt schemes

The Dasara Food Festival will provide some food for thought, besides offering a wide variety of dishes to indulge in, in line with the theme ‘Green Dasara’, this year. Addressing a press meet here on Wednesday, Deputy Special Officer of the food festival sub-committee of the Dasara Executive Committee P Shivashankar (who is also Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer) said that the festival was being organised on two themes –––– ‘Parishuddha Aahara Prathiyobbara Hakku’ (Hygienic food is everyone’s right) and ‘Janapadadinda Jagathikathe’ (Folklore to continental).

“The food festival, being held at the Scouts and Guides Grounds from 8 am to 10 pm from October 1 to 9, will feature seminars and interaction on the benefits of government schemes such as Annabhagya and Ksheerabhagya. Seminars have also been scheduled on hygienic food, role of women in providing nutritious food to children, relevance of traditional food, clean water and contemporary food habits. These events will be held from 4 pm to 6 pm.

From October 2 to 9, from 11 am to 1.30 pm, progressive farmers will present demonstrations on millets ––– ragi and sajje on October 2, haraka on October 3, jowar on October 4, navane on October 5, saave on October 6, baragu on October 7, korale on October 8 and oodalu on October 9, he said.

Those setting up stalls at the food festival have been imparted training by the experts on maintaining hygiene in kitchen, serving areas and cleanliness at the venue. The stalls will also be asked to provide seating arrangements for the convenience of the visitors, said Shivashankar.

Working president of the sub-committee K Rameshwarappa, also Senior Deputy Director for Food and Civil Supplies said that even though the initial plans were to organise the food festival at more venues, they had to be shelved due to various reasons. “However, the food festival will be held in a more organised way, than in the past. There will be separate vegetarian and non-vegetarian sections among the 92 stalls.

An expert committee has fixed the menu for each stall, depending on their specialities, and also the measure and price for the food items. No item can be sold above the maximum retail price. Besides, specialist caterers in coastal, south Indian, north Indian, coastal and tribal cuisine, corporate companies such as Unilever, Cafe Coffee Day and Coco Cola, and star hotels like Grand Mercure and Fortune JP Palace are participating in the event,” he said.