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Visitors slam high prices at Punjab food festival

Visitors slam high prices at Punjab food festival

At Punjab Eat, visitors enjoyed desi Punjabi delights like sarson ka saag and makai ki roti
01 May, 2016

KARACHI: Little straw grass stools, low chokhi, charpoys, horse carts without the animal, tilted upwards and parked against pillars, matka or clay water carriers and oil lanterns ... that’s Punjabi culture for you, and it was all there at the Frere Hall lawns on Saturday at the Punjab Eat Festival.

As for the food, well, the sarsoan saag, makai roti, lassi and home-made butter though all desi Punjabi delights could not be enjoyed so much by the connoisseurs of Punjabi food here due to being rather pricey. A deal of one little makai roti, with a spoon of mustard spinach and glob of white butter with a small glass of saltish lassi cost Rs200. So after one helping the customers with still some space left in their tummies moved away to another stall for chaat or something else to satisfy the palate. Alas a plate of chaat, too, cost Rs120.

Naqia Ali and Shazia Saifuddin said that their family was originally from Punjab so having visited there several times they were hoping to find special Multani chaat. “No, this tastes like regular Karachi chaat and gol gappay,” said Naqia.

“And where do we dispose of the plastic plates and spoons?” Shazia asked looking around. “Are the matkas for decoration or for collecting rubbish?” she asked.

Meanwhile, Najamuddin Saqib at the Super Chaat Corner stall said that he knew very well the difference between the chaat sold in Punjab and Karachi chaat. “Punjabi folk prefer to have their chaat with sweet chutney while we here want more spices,” he explained.

But Mahboob Elahi, making chicken tikka at Faiz-i-Mushtaq Catering stall said that people of Karachi don’t like much spices on their tikka like those in Punjab. “Here we complaint if anything is too hot or spicy so I am concentrating more on flavour than spices,” he said.

One visitor complained that the entry ticket at Rs250 each was too much and after paying that much to come to the festival she was not happy about the food being so expensive, too. But another visitor said that he was glad to be there despite the hole in his pocket. “It is fine if the food at the festival costs too much. It is still something lively where my family got an enjoyable outing. All these food festivals are good for lending moments of joy to Karachi,” he said.


Originally published in Dawn, May 1st, 2016

Comments

Naxalite May 01, 2016 12:22pm
Its not at all pricy.
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sudhir May 01, 2016 02:52pm
Even by Indian standards these prices are expensive. I guess the organisers and the food providers were looking to make a killing at one go.
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KN May 01, 2016 07:33pm
@sudhir One Pakistani Rupee equals only 60 paise in Indian Rs. So it is not all that expensive considering it is a fair and not a regular restaurant
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BIKASH CHANDRA May 01, 2016 07:49pm
As a budget traveller, I have travelled some countries of eastern asia.. say.. Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Myanmar, India and Malaysia. With my experience I can say the price in Food Festival is exorbitant.
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Rajendra May 01, 2016 07:50pm
Rs.200 is reasonable even from Haldiram and Bikanerwala standards. Rs.200 in Pak currency are equivalent to 2 USD whereas Haldiram sells this for 175+ tax and service charge in INR ..
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Jawad May 01, 2016 08:41pm
Sarsoan saag, makai roti, Lassi are the cheapest food you can get in punjab..it's poor people's food in punjab and healthy.
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Agha Ata May 01, 2016 09:04pm
For me, makai ki roti is quite romantic. It reminds me of my childhood, in Simla (1945-46 INDIA) where mountain women, sitting, watching their herd of goats and cows, sang songs. One was very famous: "Makai di roti, meri qismat khoti, mere belua re. (Bread made of makai, my bad luck, oh my darling)
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hellinger-reissener May 02, 2016 12:03am
Haldiram would be far better option than this. They have far better food as well as quality than these local vendors i think.
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sukhera May 02, 2016 03:15am
I don't know why people are complaining of high prices of Punjabi food . The item Corn bread, Saag and glass of Lassi is around RS.200 which is less than two US dollars. Just the cheese burger at Mcdonald restaurant in Chicago ( fast food Restaurant ) is $2.00 which does not include fries or the drink. May be the people 's earning power is low but Pakistani food prices are inline with US grocery prices. People are forgetting how much labor is involved in preparing the Punjabi food and its all hand made.
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RIZ May 02, 2016 09:46am
sarsoan ka saag and makai ki roti are seasonal food only cooked in winter. Never saw anyone cooking or eating this food at home in Punjab in summer as the taste is not as good as in winter. The sarsoan (mustard) plant with tender stems (called gandal in Punjabi) is hardly available in Punjab in peak months of summer.
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bkt May 02, 2016 10:54am
@Jawad : But in Karachi this is exotic food that people will pay more for. The prices could have been more reasonable but the purpose was to have a different time and outing with the family. Besides the evenings in Karachi are cool and pleasant and spending a little more is acceptable after travelling through the mad rush.
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Oz May 02, 2016 11:57am
KFC or McDonanlads thoostay waqt kissi ko pricing takleef naheen deti, but jub kissi ghareeb kuch khareedna ho toh pai pai ka hisaab kerna hota hay. The poor people are also paying a hefty stall fee, resourcing their own "organic" products, spending time making them and presenting to you themselves. For the same thing in Monal or another similar resturant, you would pay ten folds!
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Unsa Naqvi May 02, 2016 06:22pm
The event was good and food also reminded the taste of punjab, as chatpata taste is the basic requirement of desi punjabi , the atmosphere was the best thing in festival as the people sitting there on charpai or whatever the sitting arrangements were, pleased atmosphere, and found it better to pay money for better taste of saag and makai roti, the pas wasn't expensive either as you pay tex in hotels for siting we paid for better atmosphere, punjabi songs by falak increased enjoyment..
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Nilesh May 03, 2016 02:09am
People shd not question high prices as they r going to local vendors and not to subway or MacDonald.... I personally think prices were reasonable, and secondly going to your countrymen.....
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brar May 03, 2016 05:47am
@RIZ You are right
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An Observer May 03, 2016 01:08pm
@sukhera 2$ in US is not much as average hourly wage is $12. In Punjab the month;ly wage is is $100 a month. So please stop comparing wages in US and Pakistan.
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