Srinagar, June 23: Nene Yakheen, Choak Charvan, Ranith Gadhe…! Now tasting these mouth watering traditional dishes of Kashmir is not a big deal as the exclusive cuisine is available at the picturesque Peerzo Island here.
 In a bid to revive the traditional cuisine, the department of Tourism in collaboration with Institute of Hotel Management Rajbagh today inaugurated Kashmir Pandit Cuisine Food Festival at its Peerzo Island here. 
 On the occasion, Minister of Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, who was the chief guest, said the festival was aimed to rediscover the traditional cuisine of the Valley. “From past sometime we have forgotten some of our good old dishes. We want to revive and market them extensively to reach out to locals and attract tourists,” Wani said. 
 Director Tourism, Farooq Ahmad Shah said Kashmir was emerging as one of the best tourist destinations. “Kashmir is blessed with unmatched beauty, composite culture and unique dishes. We want to revive the traditional food and train our youth to prepare the dishes,” Shah said.
 Malik Altaf, HOD Institute of Hotel Management said the local restaurant owners should take a cue from the festival and help to revive the traditional food.
 Imran Bashir Wani, a faculty member of the Institute said 30 ethnic dishes of Kashmiri Pandits were available in the Festival.
 “We had only heard about these dishes from our parents. But today we tasted them,” he said.
 Later, in his vote of thanks, Principal, Institute of Hotel Management said more such festivals will be organised in near future. A large number of Kashmiri Pandits also participated in the food festival.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST