PINK CITY FOOD WALK

Growing up in the charming Pink city surrounded by layers of culture, heritage and enchanting stories has indeed been a blessing to the foodie in me. Food is a very integral part of the culture and heritage of any place. And when it is about the pompous grandeur of the majestic Jaipur city, it only gets better. Curating food for an event here in the city, it crossed my mind that why not walk around the unassumingly enchanting walled city of Jaipur and incorporate a 10-course supper. The organisers of the event were more than supportive and there we went, my research and on the food walk began with working on a theme for the walk and

chalking out a route to give our guests a taste of the best this city has to offer - food, art, architecture and a bustling street life. Jaipur being a prominent city on the globe owing to its deep-rooted architectural and cultural heritage is also known for its spicy and aromatic cuisine.

Experiments have been the backbone of our society since the evolution of mankind. We conceptualised a delightful experience of exciting food concepts, soulful music to enhance your culinary experience. Doesn’t a whiff of suspense in the air make us all curious and more interested in the story?

That’s what we aim at, we give you the suspense to enhance your curiosity and write your own story of experiences shared over the hearty meal.

The aim was to curate an experience you’ve never had, celebrating fine food, memorable conversations and a chance to network and expand in a rather unconventional way.

Despite the heat, we had people of all ages and from all walks of life - from our poster girl Dr Skye Morrisson, a professional kite maker and story teller from Canada, she's also a visiting faculty at the National Institute of Design, India to Padmaja (escorted by her mother Swati), a really enthusiastic kid who skipped her lunch to sample the delicacies her city offered. We had Uma Prajapati from Auroville, the founder and CEO of the label Upasana, Mohan Bimal from Kerela who is a foodie and gave us great insights on various things. Tanya Ajmera, a jewellery designer who was keen on learning more about the cuisine.

We began our walk with chai pe charcha over the best chai in the pink city, about how the chai at one of the oldest tea stalls/ mini tea cafe was so different as compared to the rest available across the city, the tea stall we talk about here is situated at chaura rasta , which is synonyms to the broadest walkway in the city during the King's rule as it lead to the doors of the city palace, walking through chaurar rasta we sampled kachoris, a pastry coating with a asafoetida filling served with curd, and to my surprise it lasts about 15 days without refrigeration.

Ananya here decided to endorse the yummy tea.

Pleased to put his batch of sev ( fried gram flour sticks ) in hot oil.

Walking through sonthilion ka rasta and entering Johri bazaar ( the market of jeweller and gem smiths) we had the pleasure of meeting Pareek uncle , who infact is the third generation of the family that has been running a dairy and sweet shop since pre-indepence times, he was delighted to host us and explain how milk is collected from across farms around jaipur and then sold to agents who then bring it to sweet shops like his. The man was pro women empowerment and was extremely happy to see two young women sharing the culture and heritage of jaipur with people from across the world. it was indeed an honour for us.

Our next stop was sweet shop as old as Jaipur (about 250 years old) that got Jaipur recognised for its famous Ghewar, we have Binil here listening to the 18th generation of the family who is running the concern now, his passion for food and the way he discussed traditions and application of new techniques to centuries old recipes was a sheer delight for all us foodies.

When its street food, alu tikki ( potato patties ) chole (served with a spicy chickpea preparation topped with mint and tamarind chutney) is a must, and this rather infamous stall sells the best of them and dahi bada ( lentil dumplings in spiced curd) in the city. Our guests had a great time here.

Alu tikki chole

Dahi bada

By now we had already had 5 courses and needed a break, a small juice stall came handy to refresh ourselves, we opted for Ganne ka ras (sugarcane juice ) to energise ourselves and cleanse our palate for the coming rounds of tasting.

Followed by this we learnt the recipe for a typically Rajasthani sweet dish savoured during the festival of Teej.

Before we headed to the last and best two stop of our walk we had to stop by at the oldest

Churan ( digestive) and Supari (betel nut ) shop in town.

From Johar Bazaar we hopped onto e-rickshaws and reached Bapu Bazaar, famous for its trinket shops and Block print home linen, has a hidden gem for our last course and dessert. Most of us did not have much appetite to of through a round of Gol Gappas , we consented on concluding our walk with dessert at my favourite place for kulfi, a place that I holds a deep emotional connect with as visited it with my grandmother often as a kid and it always brings back a heap of memories to me.