“Eat to live” or “Live to Eat”?
Latter one … Always the latter! I don’t know about you, but I wake up planning my breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner and post-dinner every single day – more than my household chores and professional tasks. Hmm, what does that say about me?
That I am a Super FOODIE!
And if you’re co-existing, living, breathing, fuming, enjoying, reading this … in Kolkata – then here this …
Kolkata Food Festival Is On PEOPLE!
Yesterday on my way to work, I got visually distracted by Mother-Of-All Billboards – advertising the “Ahare Bangla” or Kolkata Food Festival from around the Globe
.
Mentally noted the date and venue – coz I am definitely skipping my homemade lunch of green beans and chicken for what’s in store at the Food Festival.
Date: 20th November – 25th November 2018
Venue: Newtown Mela Ground
The Ahare Bangla Global Food Festival is organized every year right after the end of Durga Puja Phenomenon – Courtesy the initiative of our Honorable CM – Mamata Banerjee.
I rushed to the office, completed my entire day’s task list by 12 noon and zoomed to the “venue”. Along the way, my stomach juices started doing their work and my mind worked full-time planning on the platter!
Enter the Food Haven – A HUGE site – with multiple stalls – segmented into Snacks, Mains and Dessert Sections.
See, I start off crucial events in my life on a sweet note – a ritual to end things on a positive note too. So, I headed straight to the Dessert Camp.
And MAN OH MAN what a dessert fiesta it was …
A horizontal line laden with counters on both side. And the massive exhibition of SWEET EVERYTHING!
It’s a given fact that Bengal is known as the land of Sweets and its language – the sweetest one. So, it was quite evident to witness a strewn of Bengal’s Dessert Delicacies. From the iconic Rossogollas, Misti Doi, Langcha, Kheer Kodom, SitaBhog, Mihi Dana to the contemporary and modern take on Classics – Chocolate Rossogolla and Baked Doi.
I ended up buying the Seasonal Nolen Gurer’er rossogolla which is made of season’s Jaggery or nolen gur, doused in laden – enough to last for the month (DAY)!
With the Sugar Rush – I Cayote’ed my way to the Mains’ Section – and What Mains they were!
It was like a Globe on a Platter – China, India (of course), Japan, Russia and more!
Duck, Pork, Lamb, Rabbit, Fish … But I gorged on Fish and Chicken!
Bhapa Chicken – Steamed minced chicken wrapped in a banana leaf – fish chops and cutlets, sushi and tempura!
You’d think – Open Food Counter means Mess right? But I must give it up to the organizers who had kept the place so clean – prim and proper.
There were tables adorned with white tablecloths (without even a single spot!) and in every section, there were 2 counters providing Clean Drinking Water – FREE!
A single day is not enough to experiment your pallette. You need all 6 days to complete one end to the other – gorging on sumptuous and delectable delicacies from around the WORLD!