A shoppin’ we will go

From fine food and fresh veggies to beauty products and decorative items, Coimbatore’s first Gourmet Bazaar had it all.

October 09, 2015 05:58 pm | Updated February 03, 2016 05:28 pm IST - Coimbatore

Check out the stalls A happy atmosphere at the bazaar Photos: M. Periasamy

Check out the stalls A happy atmosphere at the bazaar Photos: M. Periasamy

The air at Coimbatore’s first Gourmet Bazaar at Race Course is full of lovely smells and sights: fresh cheese, warm cookies and gooey chocolate brownies. Rock music plays in the backdrop. There is a happy atmosphere, as friends bump into each other and neighbours chat as they admire the stalls.

Gourmet Bazaar is a new concept in the city, says Shikha Bagaria, one of the organisers. “We tried to model it on the coffee mornings held in the West, where women put up stalls, call their friends and give the proceeds for charity. Even though this is a commercially driven expo, we have also tried to recreate that casual ambience and personalise the occasion by giving gourmet badges to the participants.”

Cheese made at Caroselle Dairy Products, near a small hamlet in Kodaikanal, is on display at one of the stalls here. Patti, an Irish woman with a friendly smile and twinkling blue eyes, urges visitors to take a whiff at the cheese cubes. A love for the Vedas brought Patty to Kodai and soon, she was involved in this business!

“You never know where life takes you! I love the place. It’s beautiful and we have around 50 cows there. Our motto is ‘Why do you need to import stuff from the West, when you can produce good stuff here’?”

Customers lug around packets of fresh greens from the stall of Green Box Direct, a door-to-door delivery service of organic veggies run by Raj and Anoma. From rare food stuffs, including fresh vanilla pods, organic honey, dessert jars, sprigs to hand-rolled tea, edible chocolate bottles and healthy cotton candies for children, the bazaar offers many options of specialised, fine foods.

Health-based food products such as ragi and wheat cakes and home-made goodies are also available. Some bakers introduced gluten-free goodies as well. Apart from Fine Foods, there are also beauty products, jewellery, decorative items and accessories. Megha and Pritesh Asher have showcased their Juicy Chemistry products, a line of natural skin care products. At Isha Kraftz, choose from pretty pouches and mobile covers made of decoupage materials. Matilda, an interior designer, sells crochet coasters, table mats and pouches.

Most of these stalls also take Diwali orders. Gift boxes, chocolate pouches and sweet baskets are some of festive additions. “More than giving space to new entrepreneurs, it is about identifying the right people,” says Shikha. “As far as food is concerned, it is about giving people more options in specialised food, which is not easily available in the market. If this gets a good feedback, we plan to hold it more frequently.”

(The expo is on today at Race Course, near On The Go. For details, call 93457-87850)

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