Brace yourself and get your tummies ready, Ahare Bangla, a five-day long food bonanza is back and better than ever before.
Quail, Turkey, Duck, Lamb & Fish: Ahare Bangla, Kolkata’s Biggest Food Festival Is Back
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What Is It?
If you’ve never been for Ahare Bangla, you’re missing out on something truly special. Thousands of people, five days and tens of stalls all coming together to celebrate food. Organised by various departments of the government of West Bengal {led the Animal Resources Development Department}, the food carnival is all about promoting local produce and celebrating food. You’ll get a chance to interact with the farming community – those who are literally growing the food we eat every day.
This year, besides the fair part of the fest, there’s also going to be a cooking competition open to all. Besides that, to keep you entertained there’ll be talk shows, cookery sessions with renowned chefs, eminent writers, poets and other distinguished personalities and so much more.
Why Should I Go?
Besides the food stalls from popular restaurants, the food fair has a section where you get extremely unique and rare produce. From many unique varieties of rice like kalobhat {a black aromatic rice} to veggies only found in West Bengal will be on display and up for sale. This year, a special ‘Theme Food’ zone will have tons of innovative themes and a different theme on each of the days.
It gets better! Like last year, there’ll also be tons of unconventional meats and meat products {the ones you only see on Masterchef and Hell’s Kitchen!}. Quail, Turkey, Duck Black Bengal goat, Bonopala lamb, Garole lamb and so much more. Seafood lovers, interesting and new varieties of fish like Vennami, Pungus and Vietnam Koi will also be available.
Anything Else?
The venue of the festival has changed to make it bigger than before. There will be both indoor AC sections as well as outdoor sections. There’s always tables and chairs to sit and enjoy your meal. It tends to get extremely crowded so we suggest you go prepared. Also, carry cash!
Check out their website and their Facebook page for more details before you visit. We suggset you plan your day since there’s so much to do, you may get a little overwhelmed if you decide the plan on the spot.
When: December 7 {inauguration only} and 8-11.
Where: New Town Mela Grounds.
Time: Lunch {noon to 3 pm}, tea & snacks {3-6pm} and dinner {6-9pm}.