Visitors at the food festival in Imphal on Friday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Imphal, Nov. 22: Oyster fry from Imphal East, ngaprum (eel) singju (salad) from Bishnupur, smoked beef salad from Imphal West and pork curry from Ukhrul — indigenous recipes from Manipur will tickle the taste buds of Shillongites next year.

“A group of people based in Shillong contacted us and we have agreed to hold a festival sometime in May next year. However, we are yet to finalise everything,” Kh. Athouba, managing director of the Board of Manipur Chinjak Festival, which is organising the event at Gandhi Memorial Hall in Imphal city

The invitation came after the success of the Manipur Chinjak Festival, which began on Friday, and will continue till November 30.

An Imphal-based group, Innovative Youth Development Organisation, is organising the show.

Altogether 33 stalls from all over the state and belonging to various communities are participating in the second edition of the festival.

Senapati is the only district that did not set up any stall.

The visitors have 110 menus to choose from at the event. There are both vegetarian and non-vegetarian items to satisfy their taste buds.

“I came here today to try the indigenous pork curry of the Tangkhuls. It is really tasty. We cannot travel to Ukhrul but we thank the organisers for this,” said Khundrakpam Joy of Imphal East. He came with his wife, Usharani and five-year-old son, Alfred.

Ersi Jajo, who is assisting the Tangkhul food stall, let out the secret behind the pork curry.

It does not have any spice and is made with only salt and chillies. “Have as much as you want. It will not upset your stomach,” she said.

Worthing Vashum, the owner of Elrey Restaurant in Ukhrul who has set up this stall, said she had sold nearly 50kg of the curry yesterday.

Interestingly, the stall set up by the organisers selling breads and cakes made of chakhao, an indigenous rice variety of Manipur, have been drawing maximum crowd. Yesterday alone it sold both the items worth Rs 7,000.

The visitors are happy to find food belonging to various communities and places under one roof.

The main idea for organising the festival is to preserve, promote the indigenous recipes and attract visitors from outside the state.

“Our indigenous recipes are facing extinction because of the growth of junk food. We need to preserve our indigenous food if we want to preserve our identity and culture,” Athouba said.

After seeing the success of the festival, the group is planning to hold a seminar for the owners of the hotels and restaurants in the state. It will request the hotels and restaurants owners to include indigenous food items in the list of their menus.

In addition to this, the state government has assured the association that it will provide land for setting up a Manipuri indigenous food park and a research centre.