Berhampur: From pakhala (fermented rice), pulao, kanji, besara, kakara to manda — varieties of traditional Odia delicacies were on offer at a competition jointly organized by the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) and the women and child development department in silk city as part of the ongoing fortnight-long Odia Pakhya celebrations by the govt since April 1.
To promote and preserve Odia culture, the govt is celebrating Odia Pakhya, which will be over on Odia New Year on Monday.
Around 60 women, most of them the members of the self-help groups and anganwadi workers, prepared the traditional Odia dishes, which was one of the themes of the celebration. Popular dishes like dalma (lentil and vegetable curry), various items made from saga (green leaves) and different types of sweets like khiri, pithas like kakara, arisha and manda (rice cakes), among others, were on offer.
“We are very happy as the women in the city prepared these popular dishes with ingredients available locally and their unique cooking techniques. All items are tasty,” said Sanghamitra Dalei, BeMC mayor, who was the chief guest at the event.
“We had asked the participants to prepare only traditional Odia dishes,” said Kalpana Kumari Sahu, child development project officer.
Geetanjali Samantara, a community organiser (BeMC), said the turnout of participants were more than their expectations.