Three evenings of music, shopping, and delicious food is what Taste of Coimbatore offers this year.
Inaugurated on Friday evening, the three-day food festival organised by the Coimbatore District Hoteliers Association has 130 stalls. Well-known brands, home-made food servers, and some of the new food outlets have set counters at the festival, held near Codissia as part of Coimbatore Vizha.
Spread over 4.5 acre, with two entry points and lot of vehicle parking area, the food festival took off with youngsters and children from three orphanages, invited by the organisers, walking in from 5 p.m.
Many of the stalls offer food at nearly 30 % lesser price compared to the price at their restaurants. “The idea is to help more people taste more food at the festival,” said D. Srinivasan, president of the Association.
There are vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, chaats, fast food, ice creams and more. “This is a plastic-free zone and food safety officials will check the kitchens regularly on all the three days,” Mr. Srinivasan said.
Hotels and restaurants in the city had come together on a common platform. The stalls promoted their brands in different ways. It was their choice, said Jegan Damodarasamy, executive committee member of the Association.
Chithirai Selvan, a Class X student and inmate of one of the orphanages, came to the food festival last year and has come this year too. He preferred to have a plate of chicken biryani. Jeeva, a Class IX student, also from the same orphanage decided to start with an ice cream.
Mohamed Asan, director of Courtallam Border Rahmath Kadai, said he had set up stall at Taste of Coimbatore for the second year.
The event gave improvement in visibility to the brand, which had two outlets in the city.
The food festival will be open from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Traditional dances and music concerts will be organised in the evening.
Anuradha Sriram will perform on Saturday and on the last day, it will be Diwakar and team.
The music concerts will be held from 7.30 p.m. for two hours. There are stalls selling eco-friendly products and packaged food items too.
