Bhubaneswar, Nov. 6: Get a taste of experiential tourism in Puri. Travel to the holy town and engage with the local community and take lessons in making delicious Odia dishes.

Meet Yugabrat Kar, who runs Wild Grass, an eco-friendly restaurant. He has started this initiative through which tourists can take classes from local chefs in learning how to make traditional Odia dishes. An elaborate insight into the local cooking styles is on offer for visitors who take part in the sessions.

The session begins with the participants visiting the local market and buying ingredients. "Instead of going to shopping complexes or malls, they shop from the local vendors. In the process, the participants get to meet the local traders and interact with them," said Kar.

This is followed by engaging with the chefs in making the dishes, where each session starts at 9 in the morning and concludes at 2pm.

"They first start making masala chai with local herbs. They then start to learn wholesome meal that includes five items," Kar said.

Participants get to learn how to prepare various Odia vegetarian and non-vegetarian fare such as dahi baingan, dalma (lentils cooked with vegetables), saga mooga (leafy vegetable cooked with lentils), khata (chutney), dahi maccha (fish cooked with curd) and kankada jhola (crab curry) among others.

"Many a time, tourists come to me asking to learn a particular recipe and we make sure that we help them learn it. We also make sure that the recipes are easy to follow and they can make it when they return to their country," said Jayanta Mandi, the head chef. He is assisted by two other local cooks.

A group of four foreign tourists took a taste of the cooking session yesterday. Stefano Betazzoli from Italy could not stop praising the prawn curry that he learnt to make at Wild Grass.

"Roaming around the local markets to buy the ingredients was great fun. After cooking, all of us had lunch together and the prawn dish was really nice. The experience was exciting. I love to cook and I am going to make it in my hometown and let my friends and family taste it," said Stefano.

The initiative was launched six months ago and about 60 foreign tourists have taken part in it till date. The novel idea struck Kar during the period of his travel to over 26 countries.

"During my journeys, I got acquainted with the concept and thought of employing it here. Experiential tourism is catching up across the world and it is a great way of attracting tourists," said Kar.

Kar has also started an eco-tourism facility at Lamtaput in Koraput district that aims to empower the local tribal community. Titled Desia, the site aims to promote responsible tourism.