Yes, we run food groups and we don’t ONLY eat around …..

Calcutta foodies Club and Good Vegetarian food- two eminent Kolkata based food groups. We are social animals and that’s most evident from the facts that we are active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and god know which other social networking sites. Though a bit late, which I normally am, I would love to talk about two events conducted by 2 of the most renowned social media-based food group in Kolkata. Both are different in nature, the planning to execution phase is different. But, instead of just going out and enjoying food, both these groups tried to spread happiness – the sheer happiness of having a good meal, the happiness of getting recognized.

The events were held in October, around the Durga puja time in Kolkata. The whole state gets dressed up for the festival and both of them tried their level best to add in that extra bit to this happiness… Here, I would be talking about Calcutta Foodies Club and the Good Vegetarian Food Of Calcutta

An effort from Calcutta Foodies Club

Calcutta Foodies Club or what is popularly known as CFC started around 2 years back with just a handful of members on FB. Few mad-for-food people thought to kick-start a forum where ONLY the food-related discussion would be done. And, I was joined as an admin shortly after it was started. And unlike other forums, this forum was dreamt to be clean from commercial advertorials. I am not saying it’s bad, but not in this forum, please…..

Now, after almost 2 years and 20K+ members considering all the social media channels, CFC is an extremely popular forum among foodies. It has got its member base spread across India and abroad also. Meets are regularly held and adda sessions are done.

Now, this year, Sounak Banerjee thought of something else. God knows how this idea struck him, but the idea was to gather contribution from the team members in one person’s A/C (he himself volunteered for it), negotiate for a meal at a subsidized rate from one restaurant and distribute the packets among the needy ones.

The participation from Calcutta Foodies Club or CFC was awesome. Probably, members were waiting for someone to initiate this and contributions started coming in. Few members opted as volunteers for logistics support. Thanks to Shubhankar Paul, Ananda Roy, Jai Bahadur ram, Ananya das, Jayita Dutta, Jayita Sarkhel, Rageshree Bose, Arijit Basu, Madhubanti Nandan, Pratity Nath, and  Kaustav Das. Now, it was no small task. But, it was done and a full meal consisting of Fried Rice, Chilly Chicken and one portion of soft drinks was distributed to over more than 400 people.

The date chosen was Ashtami of Durgapuja 2016- the auspicious day. The area covered was Hazra More till Gariahat crossing via Rashbehari Crossing. It may not have been a gala event, but at least a few persons in Kolkata were happy…

We from CFC understand that there were certain flaws and I could’ve been done in a more elaborate was…. but there’s always a starting point and we’ve started. Let’s join hands at Calcutta Foodies Club and spread a little more happiness.

An effort from Good Vegetarian Food Of Calcutta

A super-enthusiastic, thoroughly professional cooking event which has moved from strength to strength…… this is how the Choco-O-Mania, an event envisioned by Good Vegetarian Food of Calcutta held on October 2nd, 2016 can be summed up. This event is being organized for the 2nd year in a row by the group members bonded by a common passion- Food.

Egged on by the success of the event last year, this year the members were fueled with a desire to make it even more grand, more successful and more professional. 2nd October – the day of the event, saw a steady stream of students from various schools troop in to participate in the Eggless Choc-O-Mania competition where the theme was ‘Chocolates with Fresh Fruits’. The creativity and desire to make some out of the box chocolate dishes was evident in the way the students doled out their innovative and exquisite dishes giving the judges, Divya Saraf of Quarter Plate and Debopom Sinha, ex-chef of Park Hotels a difficult time to judge the dishes.

The tasting is done and the judges were ready with their verdict. Manavi Binani and Dhwani Thakrar of Sushila Birla Girls’ School stood First & Runner up respectively and Drishika Khemka of Mahadevi Birla World Academy got the innovation prize in the Choc-o-Mania competition.

As they say that the morning shows the day, so was the case on this day too. The success of the first competition percolated into the second half also which witnessed a non-gas cooking competition called Cook-o-Mania. Apart from the general participants including excited senior citizens, a special category of Super Abled participants also took part. Many of these special & visually impaired participants from Akshar & Voice of The World respectively performed with great enthusiasm and confidence. Good Veg Food volunteers assisted few of them; the entire process of the competition was extremely satisfying and meaningful. This event was adjudged by Rajdeep Bhattacharjee – a respected food blogger and Chef Susanto Sengupta of 6 Ballygunge Place. After a particularly tuft time tasting the exotic dishes prepared by the participants the judges declared the winners.

But wait…. Are we forgetting something very vital to the success of an event…..Correct, the name of our sponsors. Choc-O-Mania was co-sponsored by Parishma Creations and Cook-O-Mania by R R Agarwal Jewellers.

Prize distribution is done by the co-sponsors, judges and Samridhi Singhvi, head Zomato – Food Partner of the events marked the end of a successful event.

The event moments can be seen at https://www.facebook.com/devashiskuthari/videos/10154059654336298/