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By Abdul Rahman M. Baig
Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH – Indian food connoissuers in the city were treated to a veritable feast at the three-day Indian Food Festival last weekend with 17 different restaurants opening up a range of exotic dishes that offered the flavors of India over these three days at the Consulate General of India premises.
The gastronomic extravaganza was inaugurated by Consul General Mohammed Noor Rahman Sheikh, who is also the vice patron of Saudi Indian Business Networks (SIBN) which organized the traditional event for the third year in succession. The multitudes that visited the fest got an opportunity to savor a variety of Indian cuisine truly reflecting India’s unity in diversity.
Sheikh, after the inauguration, welcomed the Thai and Bangladeshi Consuls General and other guests and said, “This festival’s basic purpose has been to promote Indian food in Saudi Arabia. Food is a great expression of one’s culture, traditions, habits etc. Indian food has a long civilizational history associated with it. We are happy to conduct the third edition of the Indian Food Festival. We would also like to thank SIBN for the lead role it has taken in organizing a very successful festival this year.”
Consul Commercial Dr. Noorul Hasan welcomed all the diplomats, SIBN members, Saudi dignitaries and other guests. Hosting this third food festival successfully would not have been possible without the untiring efforts of Mir Gazanfar Ali Zaki, SIBN’s general secretary, and his team to bring 17 different Indian restaurants under one roof,” he said.
Zaki thanked the consul general for his trust in SIBN in holding the event. “I am delighted that we were able to provide a platform to Indian restaurants to exhibit their cuisine and delicacies. There’s excitement among the people of Jeddah to taste the variety on offer. I thank my team Esa Bin Ayaz Shabibi, Viquar Ahmed, Abdul Rahman M. Baig, Farooq Ahmed, Vijay Soni, Mirza Imtiyaz Ahmed, Amjad Shareef and Syed Khaja Viqaruddin, for making this event a success,” he said.
Vijay Soni, SIBN treasurer, said, “The traditional Indian food is widely appreciated for its unique herbs and spices. The variety of herbs not only gives varied taste but also highlights the herb’s medicinal properties. It not only produces a very defined taste but a unique aroma. This food festival is an effort to showcase few of those varieties under one roof.”
Apart from food, the star attraction of the festival was musical programs during the three-day event in which several local talents enthralled the audience with their melodious songs. Waseem Muqaddam was the master of ceremonies for the entertainment session.
Redsea, the Electronics Store of Abdul Latif Jameel, was the Platinum Sponsor of the festival and Eurostar (Haldirams and Bajaj) were the Gold sponsors. Among the co-sponsors were Air India, Al Kabeer, Luna, The Ocean Restaurant, Sea Gulls, Advisors 360 and Alpha Cargo Services Co.
The participating restaurants in the festival included Shadab, Village, Aryas, Khaana Khazana, Paradise, The Ocean, Qasr Mohra, Bawa’s Kitchen, Barns Healthy Taste, Rara Avis, Bawarchi, Dastar, Chatkhara Chat, Kwality Snack’s Home, Misbah Snacks, Yummy Treat Snacks and Hyderabad Sweet House.
Syed Khaled Ali, business development manager of Bawarchi Restaurant suggested that SIBN should host this festival twice a year. “It is our first participation in the festival and we got a perfect platform to showcase our specialties.”
“SIBN has provided us a platform to present our dishes. We also got an opportunity to interact with many Saudis and other nationalities that visited our stall in this festival. Our grilled items proved popular with the visitors,” said Mohammed Obaid Patel, operations and planning manager of Ocean Restaurant.
Esa Bin Ayaz Shabibi, restaurant manager Shadab Restaurant, thanked the consul general, consulate and SIBN officials for giving his restaurant a chance to promote its delicacies. This is the third time the restaurant has participated in the festival. We received an overwhelming response this year, he said, adding, “Our barbecue dishes and desserts were popular among the visitors.”
Sohail Ahmed, general manager Paradise Restaurant, was happy to participate in the festival for the first time. “We are a new restaurant in Jeddah and the festival was a perfect platform to promote our cuisines and interact with the community.”
He suggested that festival in future should be hosted at a larger place so that more people could be accommodated.
The festival concluded with the platinum sponsor Redsea giving away 50” LED TVs, meat mincers, juicers and citrus to the visitors of this mega event. In addition Redsea offered 50 percent discount at its all stores as well as on online purchases on electronics, home appliances and air conditioners.
The prizes were given away by Anand Kumar, Dr. Noorul Hasan and Moin Akhtar from the Consulate General of India. IdeaPodd was the agency representing Redsea, the electronics store by Abdul Latif Jameel.
In addition gift hampers were presented by Eurostar. Free sampling was done by Garamish and many offers and combo gifts were given by the participating restaurants.
A. G. Danish, CEO of IdeaPodd said that Redsea Indian food festival was the perfect platform to reach across not just the Indian Diaspora but also other communities who had come to savor the Indian delicacies. It gave Redsea a great opportunity to communicate with the visitors on its products and offers.
