The Tastes of India

31st of December marks the end of a year in the Christian calendar. As twilight bathed the temple aglow, a rich aroma wafted across. It was the unmistakable aroma promising the spread of a feast, the gourmet extravaganza, Tastes of India. Inaugurated by the Minister for Culture, Srimati Rani Satish and Minister for Large Scale Industries, Sri Arvidesh Pandey, the food festival held every year at ISKCON Bangalore was given a jump start.

The gastronomically delightful spread was colourful as it was delectable for both the hungry and the connoisseur. Whoever is having food should give food for the others who is not having food. having food. That is the basic culture that ISKCON is doing in a good manner and it is also, globally it is a good message also. With food items from various states of India, prepared by enthusiastic culinary experts from each state, the festival was a great opportunity to get a taste of India.

It's our objective in ISKCON to showcase the rich and diverse culture of India and this is one such opportunity in a festival like this. A melting pot of various culinary traditions, the food was served by devotees in traditional attire. Very surprised about all of this and also the food. If you compare it with the German food, the food is very much more tasty and also more spicy.

It's much better than English food anyway. So I tried this bhenya dosa and I think it just sounded great. Vegetarian food. That is the heart of Indian culinary tradition.

The food fest showcased a variety of delights, each having a rich melange of spices that give it a unique flavor. This one is made from rice. It gives a very, very special flavor and taste for this wonderful preparation from Kerala. And as you might be knowing, Gutta always goes with Kadala curry.

And then comes another delicacy from Kerala, which is Idiyappam. And it goes with the stew, vegetable stew with coconut milk. And the first preparation from Bengal is the famous Neem Begun. Another preparation made from bitter melon, the Karela Bhaji.

It's another very rare item called hing aloo and finally we have the Bengali paneer. It's good that you would like to taste each and every delicacy over here. The best is Rajasthan because I like dal bati very much so I prefer Rajasthan. And the most important item of the Rajasthani state is dal bati churma.

It's a bati made from besan flour soaked in ghee. And this, along with the churma, churma is made from sugar and dried fruits. So we mix the churma and bhaati, and you put dal, yellow dal, and you mix it and eat. That's called dal bhaati churma.

Culture and tradition reflect in the food that people eat, and one can understand why the rich dal bhaati churma is prepared the way it is, to acclimatize to the hot sands of Rajasthan, Or how the fiery, zesty chillies in Andhra food that ignite the tongue result in perspiration, an excellent way to cool off. Eating Rajasthan, it's pure Rajasthani food. I'm a Gujarati myself, but I can't cook the way the food served here, Gujarati food. It was amazing.

This is the ayangar counter. When you say ayangar item, people immediately think of puliyograha. So we have the puliyogra, which is made fresh, and then we have the wella payaru, and also this sukha aloo. Sukha aloo, or potato for instance, was garbed in different spices and tasted different in each dish, whether boiled in coconut gravy or roasted with aspartida, or stir-fried with chillies or simply boiled for chants.

There is versatile usage of the vegetable to give different tastes. Versatility, diversity, uniqueness. These in many ways are adjectives we would use to describe India. And Akshaya Patra has handled that really well.

The most interesting facet of the food fest is that while satiating oneself, one also partakes in an altruistic cause. The proceeds of every morsel eaten go towards feeding the children under the Akshaya Patra midday meal program. But yes, I think the turnout has been much more than what was expected. I mean that's what everybody has been saying.

It gives out a very positive feeling about the entire concept of a chaipatra. So many types of cuisines are under one roof and of course everything is vegetarian. That is a wonderful part of it. Because staying in the US, you know, it's slightly harder to find vegetarian food.

You have to go in search of it. So here, promoting that, all that is something really nice. Two nights of delectable, scrumptious pleasures of the palate was a great way to usher in a new year. The atmosphere of the temple, the idea of feeding the Akshaya Patra children, made it a remarkable experience.