Rice-cake festival rejuvenates traditional cuisines in Tripura

The Chitrarpita Art and Craft Society of the state recently organised 'Rice Fest' to promote the traditional rice cakes, which are locally known as 'pitha puli'.

The Chitrarpita Art and Craft Society of the state recently organised 'Rice Fest' to promote the traditional rice cakes, which are locally known as 'pitha puli'. Hundred of food-lovers gathered at Nandannagar in the outskirts of Agartala to get the taste of delectable traditional Bengali rice-cakes at the 'Pitha Puli Utsav.'

The recipes of homemade 'Pithas' and 'Pulis' (Bengali rice cakes) have been passed on from generation to generation. Many housewives and locals also participated in the fest. According to Santa Deb, an organiser of at fest, "Rural women used to prepare all these delicious delicacies, but sadly the new generation has almost forgotten its taste and also the responsibility to keep the tradition alive.

"Hence in order to empower the rural women, the food fest is being organized since 2006," added Deb. Organised by the Chitrarpita Art and Craft Society -- which works towards reviving traditional art and craft -- the fest acted as a platform to launch new products in order to assess their marketing capability, customer's acceptability and linkage.

The main aim of the fest was to revive the homemade traditional dishes, which are slowly being replaced by fast foods. "Today, I tasted 'Pitha Puli'. It is very tasty. And I have never seen a fest like this before. I enjoyed it a lot," said Arjita Paul, a visitor.

The fest had more than 30 stalls. A participant -- Bratati Das -- said: "Ever since my childhood, I have seen my grandmother, mother preparing 'pitha' or rice cake which inspired me to prepare pitha."

Talking about what inspired her to partake in the fest, Das said: "Every year, I prepare rice cake and recently I heard about this rice cake making competition which encouraged me to participate" Apart from the highlight dish, sweets, puddings and a variety of food mostly made of unboiled rice, coconut, banana, and molasses of date-palm as a sweetener were exhibited in the festival. (ANI)

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