Bhubaneswar: The Odia food festival ‘Handishala’ was organised for the sixth consecutive year in Dubai.
The festival offered an opportunity for non-Odias to relish a variety of Odia cuisines.
The Emirates English Speaking School in Dubai was transformed into a typical Odia restaurant, offering a line of mouth-watering delicacies.
The aroma of ‘mati handi mansha’, ‘poi chingudi’, ‘pakhala’, ‘dahi bara aloodam’, ‘kakarapitha’, and many more dishes filled the area, attracting the foreigners.
They observed that the Odia dishes are not only tasty but also easy to stomach.
At this festival, organised by the Odisha Samaj of UAE (OSUAE), food varieties from north, south, east and west parts of the Odisha were available.
Over the years it has acquired a cult status, leaving the people in foreign soil wanting more of Odia cuisines.
About 30 Odia families participated in the food festival opening as many number of stalls. Over 50 varieties of food items were on their menus.
Sabir Ali, Aseem Parida and Abhisekh Panigrahi attended the festival as judges and picked up the best and tastiest food items.
Some 300 Odia families living in UAE took part in this festival. Cultural programmes, drawing, essay and debate competitions added extra colour to it.
Earlier, the people at the festival observed a minute of silence for the CRPF jawans who attained martyrdom in the Pulwama terror attack.
PNN