[gallery td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="31173,31171,31172,31170"] Abdul Rahman M. Baig Saudi Gazette The two-day Indian Food Festival 2016 held at the Consulate General of India concluded here recently on a high note. Several reputable restaurants and eateries in Jeddah serving Indian cuisine participated in the event and presented their delicacies to the thousands of visitors, who thronged the festival with their families. Consul Commercial S.R.H. Fahmi said, "The festival's basic criteria was to promote Indian cuisine to different people in Saudi Arabia. We are happy to conduct this festival for the second time. We wish to continue this tradition in future." Consul (Consular) Anand Kumar suggested the festival to be held held twice a year. "I appreciate the idea of conducting a food festival where we can promote Indian cuisine to all the people in Jeddah and I wish Saudi-Indian Business Network (SIBN) conducts the festival twice a year in collaboration with the consulate. We are always ready to support them," he said. Syed Majeedul Hassan, general secretary SIBN said, "I am happy that the Indian Consulate has trusted SIBN and given us the opportunity to organize the food festival for the second time in a row. I am delighted that we are able to provide a platform to the Indian restaurants to exhibit their specialties to the Indians and other communities in Jeddah." Zakariya Biladi, member of the SIBN event management team, said, "This food festival is a small try to promote diversity of Indian culture & Foods to strengthen the century's old Indo-Arab relations. Asim Zeeshan, another member of SIBN event management team, said, "A festival, of course, wouldn't be successful without music and entertainment. Hence we ensured that the scrumptious food was supported with enjoyable music and melodies. We also tried to improve the overall look of the festival from its first edition organized two years back, be it the setup of the stall, the seating arrangements and capacity for the audience, the manning of the entrance and selection of the entertainment program." Vijay Soni, SIBN treasurer, said, "The Indian traditional food has been widely appreciated for its fabulous use of herbs and spices. The variety of herbs not only gives varied taste but also highlights the herb's medicinal properties. Households in India cook thrice a day home cooking, filled with different aroma of natural herbs and taste. The food festival is an effort to showcase few of those varieties at a single point, as each region in India carries more than 100 memorable varieties and flavor." Some talented International Indian School Jeddah (IISJ) students performed to the beats of Indian music on the opening day and, later 14 different local singers enthralled the audience with their melodious voice. Waseem Muqaddam was the master of ceremonies for the entertainment session. A panel of judges comprising Consul General B.S. Mubarak, Fahmi and Consul Haj Shahid Alam selected three best restaurants based on their taste, hygiene and presentation. The winners were Shadab Restaurant, Spices Garden and Daawat Restaurant. They were awarded air ticket to India sponsored by Air India and Jet Airways. The 14 restaurants that participated in the festival were Shadab, Sea Gulls, The Village, Aryas, Spices, Khaana Khazana, Spices Garden, Daawat, Lazeez Chat Bhandar, Masala Indian Restaurant, Deccan Delicacies, Hyderabad Sweet House, Cone Zone and Quality Tea Stall. Rabea Tea was the main sponsor of the event with Al-Kabeer, Eurostar, Luna, Memories and State Bank of India as co-sponsors. "It certainly is very good opportunity for all restaurants to display their fares to all the diplomats, dignitaries and other members of the audience from all countries. We feel proud to be one of the sponsors of this event," Western Province Manager M.A. Noor Mohamed said. "India is the land of spices and rich culture. Cuisine changes every 200 kms and so does language. This was showcased by this India food festival to dignitaries and people in general. We are happy to be part of it," Ishaque Zubair Country manager JetAirways said. Esa Bin Ayaz Shabibi, restaurant manager Shadab Restaurant, thanked the consul general, consulate and SIBN officials for giving his eatery a chance to promote its delicacies. This is the second time the restaurant has participated in the festival. Shadab has been serving food in Jeddah for over two decades not only to people from Hyderabad but also Arab customers. "Our secret of success is very simple. Provide excellent quality food and service, which has stood the restaurant in good stead among the customers. I would like to thank the judges who liked our food and services in this food festival and selected our restaurant to be one of the best performers by giving us an award," Shabibi said. Ghulam Rabbani alias Haqqani, manager Daawat Restaurant, said the prize for the restaurant did not come as a surprise to him. "We have worked very hard to serve quality food to customers. Most of the customers in this festival liked our barbecue dishes. I thank the judges for giving us the award. I also would like to invite people who visited out stall in this festival to visit our restaurant and taste different varieties of food we serve there." Selim Panwala and Hajira Seth, restaurant manager Spices Garden Restaurant, said it was their first time at the festival. "It was a learning experience for us. But still we were quite confident that we would get an award, as our food products are excellent. We are a multi-cuisine restaurant and have opened recently in Jeddah. We have good chefs who prepare excellent food. If we again get a chance to participate in the food festival, we would serve food with better taste," they said. SIBN Executive Secretary Mir Ghazanfar Ali Zaki proposed a vote of thanks. He said he was grateful to the consulate officials, restaurants as well as visitors for making the festival a huge success and we look further to attain newer heights in the future.
