India being a multicultural country, is replete with varied cuisine from different regions and communities. It suffices to say that we love to eat (and often live to eat!) and how! The huge variety of food is a reflector of our rich diversity and diverse cultures and traditions. Every dish tells a different story and connects straight to our souls.
Food festivals that promise to tingle your tummy like never before!
What’s life without good food? The answer doesn’t have to be spelled out loud! And if you’re thinking of a food festival, yes it does give you the chance to sample everything you’ve always craved under one roof!
Locale: New Delhi
Month: December/January
If you’re visiting Delhi in mid-December or early in January, you must go to the National Street Food Festival –a fiesta of street foods from all over India. The festival arranges for over 500 vendors from different states of India, selling momos, golgappas, chole kulcha, samosa, jalebi, dosa and what not! This is the perfect festival for ardent street-food lovers.
Locale: New Delhi, Pune, Mumbai
Month: March
The Grub Fest is basically a carnival of food and multifarious entertainment. Apart from the food stalls allotted to several renowned restaurants of India, you can also indulge yourself in culinary workshops where you’ll get gourmet products and organic foods to choose from. There’s a special arena called Grub Mile exclusively for mini-food trucks. For entertainment, they host music performances and chef demos along with fun contests. You can also take in some of the best food themed films of all time at this carnival. Sounds appetizing eh?
Locale: Bengaluru
Month: March/April
Being one of the most vibrant cities of India, it’s quite unusual for Bengaluru to not hold a food festival. The Bengaluru Food Fete brings to you the city’s best cafes, restaurants, bars and food trucks. Along with the lip-smacking grub on offer, there are flamethrowers, stand-up comedians, dancers, musicians and more! This festival also helps provide a platform for amateur bakers, aspiring restaurateurs and home chefs. It is certainly a fabulous destination for food lovers.
Locale: Ahmedabad
Month: December
Organized by the Ahmedabad-based NGO SRISTI, Sattvik Food Festival allots over 75 stalls that have innovative and nutritious dishes from across the country. Makai na paania, soya cutlets, dates biscuits, pineapple jalebi, beetroot halwa, oats tikki chaat, spinach roll, tomato halwa, aloe vera pickle, organic soya paneer –the list is endless! Vegetarians should have a feast here by all means!
Locale: Panaji, Goa
Month: April
Goa Food and Culture Festival celebrates Goa’s authentic cuisine and high-spirited folk tradition. It has over 70 stalls filled with traditional delicacies that reflect Goan culture and ethnicity. The festival is made more vivacious with music and dance.
Locale: Meghalaya
Month: December
This festival is organized by the North-East Slow Food and Agrobiodiversity Society. Presenting you with ethnic foods from the indigenous communities of Meghalaya, the festival is a gastronomic delight! The dishes are made of locally grown and forest-born foods.
Locale: New Delhi
Month: October
This festival continues for three consecutive days and as the name suggests, it brings to you diverse Asian foods comprising of Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. The dishes include sushi, pad thai, tempura, peking duck, dim sum and seafood platters among lots of other options.
Locale: Kolkata
Month: October
Bengalis are labelled as bonafide gourmets so how can they not arrange a festival celebrating food? Ahare Bangla is one of Kolkata’s popular food festivals organized by the West Bengal Government. This festival serves you authentic Bengali dishes like ilish bhapa, kosha mangsho, tyangrar jhol, bhetki paturi, mishti doi and lots more!
Locale: New Delhi
Month: October
Momos are absolute love and if you’re looking for the ultimate momo indulgence, try the GoBuzzinga Momo Festival which offers more than 300 varieties of momos –kurkure momos, tandoori momos, chocolate momos, vodka momos, rogan josh momos etc. Doesn’t this sound like heaven?
Locale: Mumbai
Month: March
With free entry and exotic food trucks, this festival is the ultimate experience! There are more than 20 food trucks, 100 dishes, music and beverages to lift your mood! This is a kid friendly festival too, making it ideal for families.
Locale: Bengaluru
Month: March
This is one of the ritzy festivals in Bengaluru. Over 10,000 food and drink products, crockery demos and regional foods along with wine brands are certain to bowl you over here.
Locale: Dilli Haat, Delhi
Month: July
In India, the celebration of summer goes hand in hand with the celebration of mangoes. The International Mango Festival brings to you the finest dishes such as mango dessert, mango pie, mango smoothie etc. from top restaurants. They also sell hundreds of varieties of mangoes including Alphonso, Langda, Fazli, Bombay Green Mango, Dasheri, Chausa etc. There are speed eating competitions that you can enter as well!
Locale: Dilli Haat, Delhi
Month: January
The Great Indian Food Festival is a tantalizing repast for foodies. It has over 75 stalls from over 12 states. Gorge on a wide variety of items here ranging from parathas, butter chicken, galouti kebabs and chaat to golgappa, halwas, ice creams and a lot more.
Hurry up! Add these food festivals to your bucket list!
These unique food festivals are the perfect destinations for true blue foodies and those who simply love eating to their heart’s content! These festivals should certainly make it to your bucket list and you can have a whale of a time with friends and family in tow.
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