Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal before a press conference to announce initiatives enabling ease of doing business in food processing sector ahead of World Food India 2017, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (PTI Photo/File)After reports suggested that the traditional Indian dish, khichdi, has earned the “National Dish” tag, Union Minister of Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal clarified it was only selected for the World Food India event in a bid to popularise it.
Badal’s clarification came hours after ‘khichdi‘ began to trend on social media. Over 800 kgs of the dish will be prepared at the event in New Delhi on November 4 in a bid to create a world record, reported news agency PTI.
“Enough Khichdi cooked up on a fictitious ‘National Dish’. It has only been put for a record entry in #WorldFoodIndia,” Badal tweeted on Friday. “#WorldFoodIndia will proudly showcase India’s culinary diversity…looks like today has been a slow news day! :)”
Badal said the dish was picked as Brand India Food as it symbolises India’s unity in diversity. “Khichdi is the wonder staple food of India and is considered the healthiest prepared food in India and it is being eaten across length and breadth of India by rich and poor,” Badal was quoted as saying by PTI.
Enough Khichdi cooked up on a fictitious ‘National Dish’. It has only been put for a record entry in #WorldFoodIndia.
— Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) November 1, 2017
The dish will be prepared by chef Sanjeev Kapoor, who is also the brand ambassador of the event. He will make the dish in a pan, that has the capacity of 1,000 litres and is seven feet in diameter. The food will later be served to around 60,000 orphan children, the heads of Foreign Missions in India, and other guests at the event, reported PTI.
The food festival, the country’s biggest till date, will be held between November 3 and 5.
(With inputs from PTI)
