214 food aficionados bond over 104 dishes in the city

Bhopal Food Lovers, a social media group with more than sixteen thousand members who are settled across the globe, organised a potluck party on the theme of #SwadIndiaKa. This potluck was celebrated with a gala menu of sumptuous food having more than a hundred local homemade dishes. “Due to rapid urbanisations our city is becoming prosperous, but on the other hand, we are losing touch of our closely knitted society and the traditions.Remember how our maa, nani, dadi used to send dishes covered by a cloth to our neighbours at festivals and in return, the plate never came back empty. Somewhere we miss it, and the connection over food is everyone’s memory. By potluck, we want to bring it back" said member Sangeeta Bhandari.

A grand arrangement was seen with people enthusiastically helping each other set up the food spread. Busy garnishing the corn homemaker Shweta Shrivastava said, “The effort which the members had put in to cook their signature dishes for the people whom they have met virtually is commendable.” Virtual connections meeting, in reality, brought in a feeling of hesitancy and reluctance initially, but after the ice broke the smiling faces of the members told a different story altogether. “Nobody came in with a feeling of competition, but the aim was to make everyone happy with the food and spend quality time by taking some time off from the busy schedules.” Said Rave Neel who brought Goan fish curry. Kitchen gardener and teacher Anajana Kapuria distributed saplings of tomato, brinjal and chilly to all the members. “I thoroughly enjoy kitchen gardening and vegetables grown organically are good for everyone’s health. I thought that this is the perfect opportunity to encouraged people to start kitchen gardening and thus I choose three plants which can grow at any time of the year with little attention.” Said Anjana. Member Raveesh Shrivastava flew down from Gurgaon to attend this event said, “We started off with a handful of members, and now we have thousands of Bhopalis sharing their culinary experiences and thoughts on the food of cafes and restaurants. With so many people showing interest in the activities of the group we are planning to install community fridges in the hotspots of the city to curb the problem of hunger.”

-Farzana Patowari