IMPHAL, Nov 24 � �If you wanted to have a unique taste to tingle your taste bud you should visit Chinzak (food) court of the ongoing Manipur Sangai Festival 2011 at Hafta Kangjeibung here.�
This was a quick reaction from Khuraijam Athouba, one of the coordinators of the Chinzak (food) court when The Assam Tribune tried to explore the main attractions of the ongoing State tourism festival, which is popularly known to the local people as �Sangai Festival� which entered the fourth day today.
Of the 300 stalls offering different varieties of handloom and handicraft products of more than 30 different ethnic groups of Manipur, more than 100 food stalls have been offering over 500 different indigenous delicious cuisines and mouth-watering continental delicacies and dishes. Above all, Thailand food stalls are another attraction of the festival.
Food lovers can check out for the typical local cuisines of the season such as �Chakhao bora� or �Chakhao matum� (pakoda made of puffed sticky black rice), �Koujeng Kanghou�(fried locust), �Oak Chagem pomba�( pork curry), varieties of chicken and pork curries, �Ngaprum Singju� (spicy eel-salad), local sauces, rice beer, fermented juice etc.
�So if you want to promote tourism,we need to focus on our food resources, including the indigenous ones because they are the key components of attracting tourists to the region,� says Athouba.
�Visitors hardly escape from the food court once they enter, whether they buy goods or not.�
Urging to maintain cleanliness and avoiding use of plastics, KK Chhetry, Tourism Commissioner expressed the need to have quality tourism instead of quantity tourism.
With regular food waste cleaning mechanism and installation of fire extinguishers, the food court seem to have a well organised look unlike previous festivals.
However, the continental food stalls have outnumbered the indigenous stalls, forcing the popular local snacks such as �Kabok�(sweet made of puffed rice), �Heingan�(fruit candy), �Watin� (Gram flour snacks), to disappear from the food court, which is scheduled to conclude on November 30.The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting, chaired by the speaker R Romawia decided that the two-day session would be adjourned sine die on December 14, the sources said.
�There was only few government businesses, making prolongation of the session unnecessary,� an official said. � PTI
