New Delhi: It’s that time of the year again when street food from all over India comes to the national capital to tease the tastebuds of foodies. Street food lovers in Delhi can dig into their favourite grub at the 9th National Street Food Festival to be hosted by the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium from December 25-29.
The 11th National Street Food Festival will be organised at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium here and around 75,000 people are expected to visit the festival.
During the event, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will also organise its second edition of the 'National Eat Right Mela' to promote healthy foods.
"Through this mela, we want to give a unique and distinct identity to our local and street food," FSSAI CEO Pawan Kumar Agarwal told reporters here.
"We are also offering a platform to the packaged food industry to showcase innovation in terms of newer areas like a reformulation of food products, healthier food variants as well as sustainable and enhanced packaging solutions," he added.
Agarwal said there will be a complete package for people -- delicious street food, entertainment and education -- in this festival.
The theme of this year's festival is ''healthier diets' where the idea is to focus on various initiatives of FSSAI around healthy eating through gamification (in an interactive manner through games and quizzes).
Food Safety pavilion will focus on demonstration of rapid food testing kits/devices.
On December 26, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan will launch the ''Network for Scientific Co-operation for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition'' (NetSCoFAN), a network of research and academic institutions working in the area of food and nutrition.
Sangeeta Singh, Head of Programmes, NASVI, said, "This festival, over the years, has helped mainstream various street vending communities. We expect a footfall of around 75,000 during the five-day festival".
Arbind Singh, National Coordinator, NASVI, said about 130 street vendors would get the opportunity to showcase their regional cuisines to thousands of visitors from various walks of life.
NASVI is a federation of 888 street vendor organisations from 23 states of India. It has been advocating the ‘right to livelihood’ of street vendors and sees passing of the Central Act for Street Vendors in 2014 as a big success.
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