As a child, I loved vacations in Allahabad with my aunt, Dr Rehana Bashir. My fondest memories are of garden parties during winter afternoo...
As a child, I loved vacations in Allahabad with my aunt, Dr Rehana Bashir. My fondest memories are of garden parties during winter afternoons or evening teas where the proud hosts would showcase their perfectly manicured gardens lush with vibrant seasonal blooms. But what I carried in my heart all these years were the varieties of home-cooked delicacies that followed later in the day. I guess it is these memories that I nurtured until they culminated in a food festival on Allahabad cuisine, Dil Ek Khane Anek, decades later. At the festival, we would invite local denizens to participate with home-cooked food representative of their commity.
The rare quality of the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, imbibed through generations of living together, resides in the souls of the people of Allahabad. The simplicity of having chaat from a roadside vendor, churmura at Civil Lines, hanging out at Cozy Nook, eating tikka at Meals on Wheels – the city’s first takeaway food joint – are the shades of the quintessential Allahabad foodie’s life.
My passion for gourmet food grew exponentially when I got married and settled in Allahabad. My husband would probably say that the first love of his life was food and, only after that, came all of us. His passion...
