You’ll find Indian delicacies you can't find anywhere else in Greater Sudbury at the Indian Food Carnival at Bell Park this weekend.
The event started on Saturday, and continues on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The Indian Music Festival portion of festivities is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
Sudbury.com stopped by the festival on Saturday afternoon to find a multicultural crowd experiencing the cultural dishes of India.
Although the event also features such tried and tested eateries as JD Fusion Smokehouse, which has a physical restaurant space at 1543 Paris St., some are unique to special events.
For the Bombay Central crew at the south end of the carnival grounds, putting the food booth together was an effort by a group of friends striving to bring their homespun eats to their new chosen home of Sudbury.
“It feels good to share cultural food,” vendor Kevin Rajgor told Sudbury.com, while putting together a kutchi dabeli, which is a small dish pieced together in a hamburger bun and described in their menu as a “sweet, spicy, and tangy potato-filled pav layered with chutneys, crunchy peanuts, sev and pomegranate. Toasted to perfection for a bold burst of flavour.”
Their menu features various food items the group of friends were craving upon their arrival to Sudbury from India, he said.
The Masala Canteen, located midway down the line of food vendors, was headed by Sudbury’s Dhruvi Joshi and Toronto’s Tarang Patel. This was their first outing, and Patel said they were testing the waters to see whether there was an appetite for a restaurant locally.
“So far, it’s an amazing experience,” he said, adding that cooking has been a longtime hobby for both of them. It’s a nice feeling, he said, to find other people enjoying their dishes.
The Indian Food Carnival is taking place on the Bell Park lawn facing Paris Street, and the Indian Music Festival is taking place at the nearby Grace Hartman Amphitheatre. Both events are free of charge to attend, with vendors, some of whom cash-only, charging varying prices for their dishes. Overall, $10 should be enough for a healthy snack and $20 should be enough for a full meal at many of the booths.
