The 3rd Eastern India Ethnic Food Festival Ethnic presented a record number of participation of dishes prepared by non-professional cooks. Food Competition was the highlight of the event. Then there were a great variety of offerings for the audience to have a taste of east India. Food games and spot quizzes loaded with gifts and prizes kept the audience engaged while the judges were evaluating the competition. The ambassador of India HE Mr. Sunil Jain and his wife Mrs. Gargi Jain bestowed copious compliments to the organizers for presenting year after year such unique events. Mr. Jain was specially happy to note that this edition of the event saw addition of a new category on health food.

The 3rd East Indian Ethnic Food Festival 2015, was organized by Maurya Kala Parisar on Friday, 25 March, 2016 at Ras Salmiya. Over 70 dishes prepared by 42 contestants were on display at the competition. There were of course very traditional dishes from Bihar, Jharkhand, Asom, Orissa, Bengal and UP. Mrs. Shruti Katiyar, the event coordinator, quipped ‘you will not find these in regular restaurants’. Complementing her comment Mrs. Nivedita Sinha, the co-coordinator said, ‘we had dhuska, litti-chokha, pedakia, malpua, Bihari kabab, and ghughni-chuda’. A very special sweet participating in the competition was ‘kaddu laddu’.

In its third year the event has been a runaway success since inception and has grown upward in popularity every year. Ladies and men who appreciate their native cooking find the event a chance to recreate their recipes. Restaurants in Kuwait generally restrict their menu to South Indian, Punjabi and Mughlai preparations but there is a whole lot more under Indian cuisine. Mr. Abhay Kashyap MKP General Secretary, informed that the event provides a welcome window of opportunity for cooks to try such very special dishes and to general public to taste and appreciate them.

H.E Sri Sunil Jain, Ambassador of India to Kuwait, visited the festival and gave away prizes. His wife Mrs. Gargi Jain accompanied him. “Generally Health and Taste do not go together” Sri Jain commented in good humor. He specially praised work done by Maurya Kala Parisar for bringing very unique and great variety of events to the community in Kuwait. In the recent years Maurya Kala Parisar has organized events like MindSpark: Dr. Rajendra Prasad Memorial Debate, Dinkar Hindi Poetry Awards, and Maurya Manch. The height of accomplishment has been presentation of Mr. Anand Kumar of Super 30 on the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the association last January.

A major attraction at the festival was taste of authentic East Indian ethnic food to the audience. Participants of this section also offered their contributions to audience on stalls provided by Maurya Kala Parisar. Participants’ enthusiasm to distribute their dishes to audience was surprising along with audience rush to the stalls. Ladies were seen comparing notes, how many dishes one was able to dish out and how fast. One lady who was not able to find space to put her dish on the stall was encouraged by other to squeeze through otherwise she would have to take her dishes on a tray around for distributing. Her husband commented that was a good idea, we should have some mobile stalls also. The atmosphere was festive indeed.

Another important feature of the event was a variety of quizzes and spot prizes. While judges were busy with competition the audience was kept interestingly engaged. Surrounded by thick green foliage and gentle sea breeze provided apt atmosphere for the attendees to enjoy the day out with family and friends.

Mrs. Sana Abdul Hamid who had prepared ‘Rani Changezi Awadhi Chicken’ was declared overall winner. She won the bumper prize of 24ct gold coins. In addition a total of following 11 prizes were given in four categories.

Vegetarian Category Prizes :

FIRST Ms. Preeti, Crunchy Urad Vada in Yogurt

SECOND Ms. Kritika Dubey, Yam Masala Curry

THIRD Ms. Rashmi, Dahi Vada

Non Vegetarian Category Prizes :

FIRST Ms. Sana Abdul Hamid, Rani Changezi (Awadhi Chicken)

SECOND Ms. Kainat Siddiqui , Dilpasand Murg Naan with Rice

THIRD Ms. Kanchan Nigam, Teekha Mutton Manpasanda with special Pua

Dessert Category Prizes:

FIRST Ms. Priyanka Kanwar, Black rice Pudding with Mango Coconut

SECOND Ms. Dipali Basak, Suji Pitha

THIRD Ms. Shruti Katiyar, Besan Barfi

Open-Innovation (Fusion or Health) Category:

FIRST Ms. Sana Abdul Hamid, Sada Bahar Gulkand Apple Mawa Barfi

SECOND A. S. Geetha, Millets

Other participants nominated to the presentation round included were Ms. Alka, Ms. Archana, Ms. Bharti Jha, Mr. Devesh Kumar, Mr. Inderjeet, Ms. Madhu Srivastava, Ms. Nausheen Parwaze, Ms. Neelika Raza Khan, Ms. Neeta Maheshwari, Ms. Nivedita Sinha, Ms. Pallavi Singh, Ms. Pinky Sinha, Ms. Pompy, Ms. Pratibha Jha, Ms. Priya, Ms. Puja Mishra, Ms. Rakhi Kumar, Ms. Sangeeta Sharma, Ms. Shipra, Ms. Shweta Shruti, Ms. Supriya Singh, Ms. Supriya Sinha, Ms. Swati Birla, Ms. Tripthi, Ms. Snehlata Anugral, Ms. Kalpana Shikhar, Ms. Asha Mishra, Mr. Ramesh Kumar, Mr. Uday Prakash, Ms. Rekha, and Mr. Rajeev Dubey. Their preparations were possibly equally tasty and innovative and were recognized for their achievement.

Different panel of judges evaluated each of the categories, each panel having one professional chef and two discerning foodies from the community. The honored judges were Ms. Neelima Srivastav, Mr. Vivek Srivastav, Mr. Mukesh Shastri, Mr. Ankit Kumar, Mr. Hemant Yadav, Dr. Niranjan Kumar, Ms. Kareena Kumar, Ms. Deepika, Mr. Shaikh Ahmad, Mr. A K Singh, Ms. Vani Agrawal and Mr. Gautam Rajput.

Mughal Mahal Restaurants and LIC International were the sponsors of this unique and popular event. Mr. Vivek Sinha, MKP Treasurer, thanked them for devoting time and effort to support the event. He also thanked the large and discerning crowd of over 200 who thronged at the venue to experience this special program.

Organizing Team for the event included Mrs Shruti Katiyar, Mrs Nivedita Sinha, Mr Abhay Kashyap, Mr Uday Prakash, Mr Ramesh Kumar, Mr Vivek Sinha, Ms Tanushri Sinha, Mr Afroz Alam, Mr Neeraj Ranjan, Mr Syed Shabih, Mr Zafar Siddiqi, Mr Nitin Prabhakar, Ms Shweta Shruti, Ms Supriya Sinha, Mr S. Sivkumar, Mr Mihnaj Khan, Ms Rakhi Kumar, Ms Shikhar Kumar, Ms Kalpana Shikhar, Ms Nilika Khan, Mr Ashok Jha, Mr Sujeet Kumar and many active MKP children.

Maurya Kala Parisar (MKP), fondly known as Maurya, is active in Kuwait since 1995. The association registered with Indian Embassy in Kuwait is dedicated to promotion of arts, culture and social service among Indian community in Kuwait. The organization gets its name from the great Maurya dynasty of Patliputra of ancient India, which had kings like Ashoka, Chandragupt and Sher Shah Suri. On its 20th anniversary celebration last January the association presented a grand show know as ‘Maurya Manch’, still fresh in the collective memory of Indian community in Kuwait.