The second Indian Food Festival organised in Berlin was appreciated by more than 3,000 people at the Indian Embassy in the German capital, an official said on Monday.
The colourful Indian dishes were tastefully displayed at the fest on Sunday at different food stalls representing various regional foods from all parts of India.
Minister Personnel of the Indian Embassy T.V. Ravichandran, whose vision made the food fest a great success for the second successive year, joined hands with 12 Indian Berlin-based associations including Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayali, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu, in a collaborative venture to showcase the authentic cuisines of their particular regions.
“Food is the most piquant expression of any culture. While India as a nation rightly boasts of its rich cultural diversity visible in its multilingualism, multi-religiosity and multi-ethnicity, it is, however, appreciated most visually on a platter,” Indian-origin poet Rajvinder Singh, who has been living in Berlin since January 1981, told IANS.
“Shaped by tradition, geography, climate and cultural fusions and supported by its local ingredients, Indian food had attained a myriad of regional and sub-regional cousins,” the three-time German poet laureate added.
The aroma, taste and the culinary forms of various dishes which these communities presented at different stalls allured and enchanted the German families who rushed to the red sandstone embassy complex situated right opposite the Tiergarten Park in the heart of Berlin.
The venue itself helped emphasise and enhance the rich cultural heritage of India, and testify to the diversity of its characteristic places, communities and groups across the vast fabric of a vast country.
The food festival saw the touch of true festivity as various regions presented their dances and music performances in the embassy auditorium.
As no festivity can be complete without a “dholak”, the Punjabi community made people dance to the vibrant sounds of the drum played by Praveen Kumar. IANS