Street food festival, a meaty affair

The National Street Food Festival, being held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium from December 29 to 31 and featuring street food from 22 States and Union Territories, is a culinary delight in the chilling winters of Delhi.

The festival, organised by the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), claims to be Capital’s first zero-waste food fest and features a variety of regional cuisine including Bihar’s delicious murgha-litti, Andhra-style bamboo chicken, Delhi’s daulat ki chaat and Hyderabad’s patthar ka gosht.

Uday, a street food vendor from Hyderabad, who is attending the festival for the first time, says, “I have come here for the first time. But I am loving the response for our patthar ka gosht. People are very amused to see it here.

“We first cut the chicken into small pieces, add some spices and apply some oil over this thick stone slab and let it cook over it slowly,” he explains while going through the process.

“We also have Hyderabadi biryani and dessert. But everyone is amused by it (patthar ka gosht),” he adds.

Uday is not the only vendor serving delicious food from south India. The Andhra-style chicken, cooked in bamboo, also grabbed eyeballs.

Apart from food, the carnival also featured live music as well as a village themed chaupal, where people discussed street food and its history on cots.

Bal Kishan Sharma, a street food vendor from Himachal Pradesh is serving the traditional khatta meat — a delicacy popular in Himachal’s Kangra district.

He says, “This is khatta meat. It is cooked using walnuts and lots of vegetables. Yesterday (29th December) everyone loved it. Such authentic khatta meat is rare to find in Delhi.”

He is attending the food fest for the first time, and is happy to see the response for traditional Himachal cuisine in Delhi.

Deepak Kumar, who hails from Patna district of Bihar, offered more than just the traditional litti-chokha.

“We have two varieties of litti. We have the murgha-litti especially for those who love the non-vegetarian food,” says Kumar.

Apart from the first-timers, the food festival also had food stalls that have been part of it since its inception.

“I have been serving authentic Rajasthani cuisine like dal-bati choorma and street food like pyaz kachori since the very first edition of the food festival.”

“Delhiiites love Rajasthani food. That’s why I come here every year. It is full of fun and excitement,” he adds.