Three-day street food festival ‘Noida Utsav’ begins in Sector 32

The festival aims to promote street food vendors at the national and international level to provide them better livelihood opportunities

From Jaipur’s dal baati choorma to Lucknow’s malai makhan, visitors relished lip-smacking delicacies on the first day of the street food festival ‘Noida Utsav’ that began at the Noida Haat in Sector 32 on Friday.

There are several variations of the common street food items like aloo tikki and dahi bhalle being offered here. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Organised by National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) and SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India), the festival aims to promote street food vendors at the national and international level to provide them better livelihood opportunities.

“Through these events, we try to train micro enterprisers like street food vendors on hygiene, solid waste management as well as marketing, so they can better promote and develop their businesses,” said Arbind Singh, National Coordinator of NASVI.

Moreover, the vendors get recognition among visitors besides deriving a sense of satisfaction from their work, he added.

The festival is also a shoppers’ delight with several stalls set up by handicraft artisans selling fascinating intricate artefacts and decor items.

“I got to know about the event through social media and decided to come over for a quick bite. It is interesting to see such a wide variety of street food being offered here,” said Rima Singh, a visitor at the festival.

There are several variations of the common street food items like aloo tikki and dahi bhalle being offered here, which is an interesting concept, she said.

Dalchand Kashyap, a street food vendor from Delhi’s Acharya Niketan market, well-known among Delhi’s foodies as ‘Mangla Chat Wale’ after he was featured in a documentary on an OTT platform, has also put up a stall at this food festival.

Kashyap said he got associated with NASVI around 13 years ago and has participated in Delhi’s National Street Food Festival organised at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium every year since then.

“As customers liked my food at the festival, they started coming to my stall as well. Before I knew, my stall became so famous that I got the opportunity to tell my story on Netflix, and have also served several celebrities of India,” said Kashyap,

The three-day festival is on till Sunday from 12 noon to 10pm.