Traditional snacks like neer urundai , sweet ball kozhukattai , green gram halwa, beetroot pozhi and main course like Chettinad chicken biryani, prawn noodles, vegetable biryani decorated on small plates were arraged on the tables at Bharathidasan Government College for Women on Tuesday.
With the theme ‘Nourish the Tourist’, 91 students from four colleges and five staff members stood with their recipes waiting for the judges and chief guests. It was the inter-college cookery competition held as part of the ‘Nour Tour 2016’, an annual event to mark the Tourism Day, organised by Department of Tourism, Government of Puducherry, and PG and Research Department of Home Sciences, Bharathidasan Government College for Women.
Alamelu Mangai, faculty at Bharathidasan Government College for Women, said that students from Mother Theresa Post Graduate and Research Institute of Health Sciences, Bharathidasan Government College for Women, Achariya Arts and Science College and Pondicherry Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology participated in the competition under different categories including traditional, baked, grilled and fried foods.
Chief Minister V.Narayanasamy, who was the chief guest at the food festival, relished the traditional food prepared by the students and played table tennis.
“I am glad to see students cook traditional food of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,” he said.
Kumara Krishnan, Executive Chef from Hotel Accord, Mohamed Musthafa Ibrahim from Hotel Shenbaga and Convention Centre and Elango from Hotel Atithi judged the best entry from each category.
Apart from the cookery competition, contest was held for the models and exhibits of Puducherry Tourism as well as Indian and world tourism.
A growing industry
Mr. Narayanasamy said that tourism was growing in Puducherry. “We see tourists from other states and countries are visiting Puducherry during the weekends. There are three kinds of tourism including leisure tourism, heritage and temple tourism. Puducherry has all the three,” he said.
Mr. Narayanasamy added that the first agenda of the government was to provide safety for the Puducherrians, particularly women. “Only when individuals are safe will they feel the freedom. Through tourism we can increase the revenue of the UT,” he said.
He said the governement was planning to acquire land and provide infrastructure for Bharathidasan Government College for Women.“The principal told us that there are more than 900 students studying in Bharathidasan College but there is lack of infrastructure. We need more space to increase the intake of students,” the Chief Minister said.
He had requested the Education Minister to provide coaching for the students writing NEET to pursue medical science.
