The Na­tion­al Coun­cil of In­di­an Cul­ture (NCIC) kicked off its three-day food fes­ti­val on In­di­an Ar­rival Day yes­ter­day.

Pa­trons were treat­ed to a wide range of foods cooked in the tra­di­tion­al style as the in­den­tured labour­ers did 179 years ago.

Su­ru­jdeo Man­ga­roo, vice pres­i­dent of the NCIC and chair­man of the Her­itage Food Fes­ti­val Com­mit­tee said, “This was con­cep­tu­alised by our pres­i­dent, Sen­a­tor De­oroop Teemal for Her­itage Month to show­case tra­di­tion­al cook­ing and din­ing. We are giv­ing pa­trons the op­por­tu­ni­ty to sit in a tra­di­tion­al set­ting called ra­soyi ka­gar and dine us­ing a leaf and tra­di­tion­al enam­el cut­lery,” he ex­plained.

Man­ga­roo said all the food would be cooked on an earth­en stove called a choola. He said the choola and fire­wood were the ma­jor sources of heat for cook­ing un­til the 1950s when gas stoves and kerosene stoves be­came af­ford­able. Man­ga­roo said the choola im­parts a sub­tle scent that blends well in In­di­an cook­ing to give it a unique taste. Man­ga­roo said the ven­ture was not a prof­it-mak­ing one and foods would be sold at $40 for a full meal; while a group of three peo­ple would pay $30 a plate. He said the ef­fort was run by vol­un­teers.

Cindy Moon­sam­my and her moth­er Asha Moon­sam­my trav­elled from Tu­na­puna to at­tend the food fes­ti­val. Asha said she was pleased with the food be­ing of­fered. She al­so ap­pre­ci­at­ed the tra­di­tion­al way of prepar­ing the meals.

“There is a dis­tinct taste of food cooked on a choola es­pe­cial­ly when you sakay foods on a fire­side,” she said.