Mission: Street food

CHENNAI: Crispy dosas, juicy cheesy rolls, burgers, colourful ice gola, crunchy potato wedges… mouth watering yet? Has the foodie in you ever felt disappointed that you can’t travel to different places in the city to devour their specialty street food? Well, the ‘Full Local’, a two-day food fest held at Anna Nagar over the weekend, brought all the popular street food joints in the city under one roof. And to no one’s surprise, the venue was packed. “If food is an emotion, then this fest is an outburst of your love for street food,” said Viji, one of the organisers of the fest.

At 4.30 pm on Saturday, the long-drawn drum rolls by young men reached a crescendo, as the MC introduced each stall and it’s specialty to the visitors at the fest. The 30 stalls were a combination of well-known street joints like Dosart, Madras Curry Cup and Nawabi Haleem, and start-ups like Thai food house and Snack Sandhai. 

Visitors milled around the stalls, smelling, tasting and watching as foods were prepared, while some had seated themselves to dine in comfort. Foreign visitors too enjoyed the plethora of Indian spicy, sour and sweet delicacies. “I love the variety here. Every shop is unique and I am happily confused, not knowing what to taste,” said Fredrick, a visitor from Indonesia.

The fest witnessed extravagant dance performances and a music concert. There were also a variety of lifestyle stalls to browse through like Sugar Plum, Just Wheat It, All That Jars etc. If there was one minor inconvenience the visitors felt, it was the unavailability of parking space as the fest was organised on an open ground on the main road, opposite the Diva showroom. 

The event had multiple sponsors: LKS, Sathya, Exodus Overseas etc. The fest also served as a platform for start-ups to market their products. “We could reach out to a lot of people and everybody is enquiring about our newly introduced eco-friendly two-wheelers,” says Mohanraj, the director of Grand Moss, a motor vehicle store. “The crowd turn out is pretty satisfactory and since it’s not in the scorching heat, visitors seem to enjoy it all the more,” said Vinitha, an organiser. The crowd didn’t disperse till lights went out at 11.30 pm.