A fete of Assam & Northeast flavours

Festivals are an exciting melange of food, entertainment and celebration. While gearing up for the Xarbojanin Sree Sree Durga Puja, Assam Association Bengaluru (AAB) took an initiative in organizing an ethnic food festival and competition. After the grand success of the Bhogjora Food Festival 2015, AAB yet again presented a fete of flavours – the Northeast India Food Festival – a unique and authentic taste of the Northeast and Assamese culture through food.

The Bhogjora Food Festival, 2016 was held on August 21, 2016 in the club hall of Hotel Premiere Inn, Bengaluru. The objective of this unique approach was to preserve the ethnicity of Assamese cuisines and representing Assam and the community in Bengaluru, honestly and honourably. A contest of the cuisines was also held among the participants in order to showcase their culiry skills and to make the Bhogjora Food Festival more exciting and relishing. Be it the zesty and ethnic pork curry or the subtly baked fish in ba leaf or the sumptuous chicken cooked with ba flower (koldil), every cuisine was lip-smackingly delicious leaving everyone, including the judges bewildered to choose the best.

With food being the central theme, the festival presented the crème de la crème of the unique flavours of Northeast India. Bland yet pungent, the north-eastern food is rich and varied enough to fill your stomach and give you much food for thought. From poultry (duck, geese, chicken), pork, freshwater fish to a steaming platter of rice and various green vegetables – the most defining aspect of north-eastern cuisine is the minimal use of spice –  a chilli or two, ginger, garlic, sesame and a few local herbs were all that took to get thedistinctive flavours. Pitha - the most popular Assamese sck, too did not fail to attract the food lovers of Bengaluru. Whether it was sweet or savoury, fried, roasted or barbequed inside a hollow bamboo stem - this finger licking sck that tastes best with doi (curd) and gur (jaggery) was something that no one missed to have a bite in the entire food festival. Hotel Le Meridian, Royal Orchid Hotels, ITC Fortune Celestial Hotels, Golden Palms Resort, VLCC and Repose Resort, Assam were among the many sponsors of this unique event.

The AAB takes great pride in undertaking more other ventures which showcase the rich, varied and proud cultural legacy and heritage of Assam and in the process create a bridge of respect, harmony and bonhomie between the people of Assam and Kartaka by drawing similarities and parallels and organizing more such socio-cultural events and community welfare programmes for the people of Bengaluru.

—Indrani Medhi