After a gap of three years the Seventh Ethnic Food Festival organised by Maurya Kala Parisar (MKP), a cultural and social association of people in Kuwait from the Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand. returned with a bang at the Aspire Indian Schools Halls on 6 May.
Also known as ‘Festival of Cuisines from Eastern India’ the annual food festival witnessed a display of the culinary talents of 34 participants, who prepared over 60 dishes and competed in the eastern India cuisines contest.
The competition was in four categories Vegetarian, Non Vegetarian, Dessert and Innovation/Fusion, and were judged by a panel of eight Judges based on the presentation, taste and ethnicity of each dish. Judges were from the hospitality industry and from among food aficionados in the region.
Managing Editor of The Times Kuwait, Reaven D’Souza, who was Chief Guest, gave away the prizes to the winners. While addressing the participants he appreciated the spirit of keeping the community together and also noted that since all participants had put in so much effort in their culinary creations everyone who took part was a winner.
Hundreds of visitors and their families enjoyed the delicacies served at the food stalls, and kids had tons of fun having their faces painted by artists. A talent show to keep the visitors entertained was held with the extempore performances of kids and adults attracting everyone’s attention and admiration.
Main attraction of the event was of course the panorama of cuisines lined up for the competition, with the presenters explaining their preparation and also detailing its links to the tradition and culture of the region.
Though finding winners from the amazing dishes presented was a difficult task for the judges, they eventually narrowed it down to 12 winners for the first, second and third place in each of the four categories.
Names of the winners in first, second and third places in each category, along with the names of the their prize-winning dishes in bracket, were as follows:
Vegetarian: Sarita Sabharwal (Baigan Bhej Pulao); Sunita Das (Dal Puri and Tamatar Chutney); and Ritu Mishra (Litti Chokha).
Non Vegetarian: Rashnita (Machha Bisara with Rice); Kainat Zafar (Chicken Dilruba); and Supriya Sinha (Bihari Sarso wali Machhali).
Desserts: Sunita Das (Khajur Gud Kheer); Supriya Singh (Thekua); and Sarita Sbharwal (Nawabi Pudding)
Innovation and Fusion: Bushra Afroz (Cheesecake Gulab Jamun); Kainat Zafar (Malpua Rabdi Bites); Purvi (Bhaji Cone).
A special prize for an Eid Al-Fitr dish was presented to Abdul Mateem
The judges of the competition were:Chef Ahmed, Chef Binu Joseph, Chef Sunil, Food Journalist Chhaya Thakkar, Dr. Nirnajan Kumar, Irfan Hadi, Najneen, and Nisha.
The General Secretary of MKP, Vivek Sinha thanked and presented a memento to the Chief Guest. The event was coordinated by Shruti Katyar and Bushra Afroz with the team of Mohd Mahtabuzzaman, Ranjay, Shafeeque, Sujeet, Sunita Das, Nivedita, Kahlid, Anil Das, Supriya Singh, Sweta Shruti, and Mithilesh.