A three-day food festival organised by the Tamil Nadu State Food Safety Department to promote traditional and hygienic cuisine offering the best of the state’s vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes has come as a delight for foodies. The festival had attracted criticism after many people pointed out that it had no stalls offering beef biryanis and this was deliberate.
Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Minister Ma Subramanian answering a question by journalists during the inauguration of the event on August 12 had said that the delicacy was skipped because no caterer showed interest to put up a stall. But overnight permissions were granted and on the morning of August 13 two stalls selling beef biryani started functioning.
The festival, which will end on August 14, is being organised in association with Eat Right India, an initiative of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The event was inaugurated by minister Subramanian along with Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister PK Sekar Babu. “We didn’t expect such a change overnight, but this brought us happiness and no one should interfere with people's food preference,” said one man who was waiting for beef biryani.
The festival at Island Grounds has around 150 stalls and they offer a mix of fast food, traditional cuisine of Tamil Nadu. Some stalls offer delicacies that may not be available elsewhere . "Idli Iniyavan" stall is offering dishes like chocolate idli and idli gulfi while Marabu Suvai shop sells a range of sweets called "Kamarkat" and savoury "black urad dal Thattai".
Stall owner "Kamarkat" Sreeni said they don’t use preservatives and food colours. In his stall, he doesn't use plastic to pack the food items. Instead, he hands them out wrapped in butter paper and asks the customers to eat the snacks at the earliest, before they lose their crunchiness.
Biryani and non-veg starters (TNM Photo by Nithya Pandian)
The Buva stall serves fish Bajji, prawn Bajji and dry fish bhel. One of the owners, Lathica Gopi, has said that the restaurant started back in 2020 and the idea behind the restaurant is to bring Tamil cuisine to an international level.
"We have never been to any food festivals in our lifetime. It is organised well and we are enjoying this a lot" said Muthuraj, a Tirunelveli native, who visited the festival with his family. But the absence of air conditioners made a lot of visitors uncomfortable, who were rushing out to have some air.
Some visitors at the festival wondered why this event was not being held at the Chennai Trade Centre in Nandambakkam, which has AC facilities.
Kuzhambu Kada (In Tamil, it means gravy shop) in the festival specialises in providing traditional dishes of Tamil Nadu. Chevvazhai Paniyaram (red banana wheat snack), plantain flower soup and vada, Red rice ladoo, Chukku Kaapi (dry ginger coffee) are some attractive food items in the "Kuzhambu Kada'' stall. An employee of the stall said they don’t use palm oil or sunflower oil or white sugar or polished rice in their dishes.
Red Banana Paniyaram (TNM Photo by Nithya Pandian)
Chefs making delicious sweets (TNM Photo by Nithya Pandian)
Some of the stalls are run by Self Help Groups (SHGs). Gandhimadhi Ramalingam from Trichy, who has put up a stall on behalf of an SHG said their group had tried to be part of food festivals before but the price was not affordable. "This time I need to thank Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin for providing free stalls to the women who are part of the SHGs,'' says Gandhimadhi. While preparing her favourite soup recipe, which smells of the richness of spices and has the flavour of Rasam, she also shared its medicinal benefits. "I procure all the spices and food items from the Kolli hills. Mudavattukaal Kizhangu (roots of Drynaria quercifolia) soup is one of the special food items I prepare here and sell to the customers.
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