Delhi’s obsession with its food reflects most in its nooks and corners where hole-in-the-wall establishments, stalls and carts dock and thrive. Despite serving affordable, lip-smacking delicacies — some for decades — the contributions of these heroes of the streets have largely remained unsung. Anubhav Sapra, who spearheads Delhi Food Walks, and calls himself the foodie-in-chief of the initiative that took form at the end of 2010, organised the Street Food Awards, 2018, at the American Centre to “recognise the efforts of the various street food vendors.
There are so many food awards but none of them recognise their work. So, we thought we would honour them for their service over the years”.
Sapra refers to the street food vendors of Delhi as his “second family” and feels that it would have been too difficult and unfair to pick the winners himself. The winners were, then, decided on the basis of an online poll where over a 1,000 Delhi foodies cast their vote. The 19 food categories saw some obvious victories but also acknowledged the lesser-known.
With most winners emerging out of Old Delhi — Natraj Chaat (Chandni Chowk) for Aloo Tikki, Chaina Ram Sweets (Chandni Chowk) for Samosa, Shyam Sweets (Chawri Bazar) for Bedmi Poori, Shiv Mishthan Bhandar (Chandni Chowk) for Nagori Halwa, among others — the area was once again iterated as the street food hub of the Capital. The few and far-in-between winners from other parts of the city included Domla Aunty (Lajpat Nagar) for momos, Chacha Chole Bhature (Kamala Nagar), Moolchand Paranthewala, Roshan Di Kulfi (Karol Bagh), Fateh Ki Kachori (Civil Lines) and The Singing Tree (CR Park) for tea.
A special award to recognise the efforts of women food entrepreneurs of the city was awarded to ILHAM, a group of three Afghan refugee single mothers — Naseema, Khatira , Farhad — created under the UNHCR self-reliance and livelihoods project in 2015. “Many of these women would work as domestic help. We thought of using the skills they possess to improve their economic condition. They have now participated in many festivals in the city, including Dastakaar,” says Aditi Sabbarwal, Senior Livelihoods Assistant, UNHCR. “Initially, we were very scared. We didn’t speak the language and were not sure if people would like the food. But as more and more orders came in, we too got confident about the initiative,” says Naseema.
Other winners in the special category include Rajiv Bhai Ke Special Pizza Omelette for Best Street Food Fusion, KB Chaat Moonglet bagged the award for Trending Street Food 2018 and the much-coveted award, Hall of Fame, was given to The Old Kheer Shop in Chandni Chowk. Urvi Barman and Girish Taku took home the award for best street
food photography.