The fourth edition of the three-day National Association of Street Vendors of India’s (NASVI) Street Food Festival is currently going on at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, showcasing some fine specimens of our street food. Bigger in size this time, the festival has 140 stalls being run by street food vendors from 20 different regions where 22 stalls have come from Delhi alone.
Anurag, part of the organising team at NASVI, says that the large attendance at the festival last year convinced NASVI to expand it with twice the number of stalls this year. The increase also warranted a change in venue, requiring a move to the spacious JLN Stadium from last year’s Constitution Club of India.
More than 300 food items are on offer at the fest. Gulab Singh’s stall, which is stationed at India Gate otherwise, churns out bhel puri whereas Vasu Dev from Patiala has brought makke di roti, a winter special in Punjab.
Hyderabadi biryani comes courtesy Poochamma of Hyderabad; litti chokha, prepared by Vishal Kumar, comes from Bihar; chicken 65 and chilli mutton by Narayan Seamy of Dharwad, Karnataka, are few of the highlights of the festival.
On the sidelines are taking place band performances by local Delhi bands and fireless cooking contest for kids.
Celebrity Chef Kunal Kapoor, who inaugurated the event, expressed the importance of street food in India’s culinary repertoire. Comparing the event to a “Kumbh Mela of street food”, he expressed solidarity with NASVI in their aim to educate street food vendors in business practice and hygiene, the two areas which do not allow the industry to reach its full potential.
(The festival is on at JLN Stadium till December 22. Entry fee is Rs.30)
