‘Andhra Vantalu’ – cookery competition to promote Andhra Thali
From the ‘Andhra Vantalu’ cookery competition (Photo Courtesy: The Hindu)
AP Tourism Authority (APTA) has initiated a cookery competition named as ‘Andhra Vantalu’ in Tirupati, aiming at propagating the traditional ‘Andhra Thali’ and to brand it.
Such a competition was organized on Wednesday, 1st August 2017, in association with Ramee Academy of Catering, Tourism and Hotel Management. The focus of the programme is to make Andhra Thali’ a brand and to get it familiar among the visitors of the state.
As part of popularizing Andhra Tali, participants are asked to bring a set of dishes. Three best combination of dishes will be selected from each district of which a final selection will be made and label it as ‘Andhra Thali. ’ There will be both vegetarian and non-vegetarian categories,” said Nishar Ahmed, Assistant Director, Cuisine of APTA
Traditional Andhra Thali (Dishes may change as per areas)
The participants may name their Thalis as per their idea. The participants of the competition will be women and they should make the dishes at their home. “We want to focus on homely food,” added Ahmed.
APTA also has plans to conduct Andhra Food Festivals in standard hotels other than the ‘Andhra Vantalu’ competition, where local cuisine will be provided in place of junk foods like Pizzas and Burgers.
The most common dishes selected from many are Rayalaseema famous Ragi Sangati, Andhra famous Gongura pickle and Mango dal. S Suseela, who is a home maker won the first prize for her dishes. M Shaheen, a hotel management student came second and a senior citizen K Nagarathna got the third prize.