Residents home in on Chaturthi snacks

Demand for savories always booms ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Goa as residents stock up on sweets and snacks to serve as prasad  or to guests. Traditional snacks such as neuryos, chaklis, chivda, laddus are the hot favorite among local shoppers. Although snacks can be made at home, several working women end up purchasing them from other entrepreneurial women who organize themselves to roll out crispy, delicious munchies for the festival.

To provide an opportunity for entrepreneurs to make the most of Chartuthi spending splurge, Goa Food Mania , a face book group of foodies, organised a two-day, Chaturthi Bazaar at the Panjim Convention Center, Mala.

The bazaar saw shoppers arriving in good numbers to check out the latest food on display. A glance revealed that, Chaturthi snacks are getting healthier with laddus made of wheat, ragi, home-made ghee and containing less of sugar. The laddus though healthy are uncompromising in quality and taste as good as ever.

Quite few of the women who set up stalls at the bazaar were not seasoned savory makers. They were first time entrepreneurs who decided to combine cooking skills with business.

Preeti Pai who set up a stall with scintillating array of modak, masalas, fov, etc. said that, her mom was a great cook and made yummy Chaturthi  faral . “Observing my mom I decided to try my hand,’ says Pai, adding that, it is the first time she is setting up a stall in a Chaturthi festival.

Prasad Raiker, Goa Food Mania, says that the Chaturthi bazaar is the first organised by the group. Stall owners have to pay charges of Rs 2,500 per stall. “The bazaar will also be held at Margao on September 4-5 at Ravindra Bhavan,” he says.