Food that leaves behind a pleasant aftertaste

Well-laid-out lunch on all four days of the conference comes in for praise from delegates

A large number of delegates having lunch at Ravindra Bharathi in city on Tuesday.

If there is one aspect that has won the hearts of all the delegates at the World Telugu Conference-2017 apart from the literary and cultural events, it’s the sumptuous and well-laid-out lunch on all the four days of the event.

Local delegates as well as those from the oversees heaped praises on the Telangana government, organising committee of the WTC and the food committee headed by Civil Supplies Corporation Commissioner C.V. Anand for the hospitality provided to them.

Perfect coordination

As the word spread about the delicious food, the numbers kept increasing with each day—from 12,000 on the first day to about 16,000 on Tuesday.

Except on Monday, when

Bagara rice had to be cooked again to meet the more-than-expected turnout for lunch, perfect coordination was at play between civil supplies, police, GHMC food inspectors and Institute of Preventive Medicine to ensure that tasty, hot and hygienically-prepared food was served to the guests. “Our WhatsApp group became hyperactive as we had to rush food promptly to where more guests turned out,” Mr. Anand said.

Happy with the positive response for the lunches hosted, Mr. Anand shared with

The Hindu the planning that went into pulling off such a mega event that has set a new benchmark in executing a programme. Not less than 30 food items were in the menu every day and 15 of the items were changed each day to serve different varieties of vegetarian food.

The generous spread had delicacies particular to Telangana cuisine in addition to other popular food items, different kinds of podulu , chutneys, at least 10 snacks, papads , desserts, ice cream, fruits and paan .

Be it the logistics of transporting cooked food to all the venues of the conference from the Central Kitchen set up at Indira Priyadarshini grounds, to well-laid-out lunch arena, hygiene and the mouth-watering food served with utmost courtesy to the guests, the lunch sessions ended up being the talk of the town.

The food committee started planning for the same one month in advance, whose members reported directly to the Chief Secretary. Keeping in mind the feedback for WTC in 2012 when the organisers had a tough time in serving lunch at crowded venues, the food committee this year planned the logistics by involving DCP, Central Zone, Joel David, under whose jurisdiction all the venues are located,” Mr. Anand said.

The next task was to select a good caterer who can serve a large number of delegates without compromising on the quality and ‘Athidhyam’ headed by V.M. Reddy passed muster in the tender process at a competitive price of ₹342 per plate, including transport and GST, he said. The credit goes to team work, he said.