When a meal is not just a meal but a privilege…Bastar Food Festival at The Park Hotel, Bangalore
(Organised in partnership with B Bindu of Culture Devi) What a privilege it is when food is much more than a meal that you consume, but something more… a window to another world. I have never been to Chhattisgarh, leave alone Bastar. I guarantee that well over 99% of Indians can’t find it on a map. But the Park has collaborated with B Bindu of Culture Devi to bring down Jatiya Baghal and Umesh Baghal, two cooks from the Muria and Mahara tribes of Bastar to cook and showcase their food. The word Baghal means the caretaker of the Bagh or tiger. The food that Jatiya and Umesh have cooked shows their deep sense of connection to their land and what it gives them. The food uses none of the heavy oils and masalas we are used to. Techniques like smoking and fermentation come to the forefront. The technique in the smoking shines in dishes like the smoked turu fish (a small white bait like river fish) or in the anda pugda, where an egg (in this instance but usually any protein) is wrapped in
