The National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) is set to host the “Noida Utsav,” a hyper-local street food festival in Noida from February 2 to 4. This event will bring together a diverse array of street food from across the country, consolidating them under one roof. NASVI, known for organizing the National Street Food Festival in Delhi for the past 13 years, is spearheading this initiative.
In collaboration with SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India), the organizers announced that the three-day festival will take place at Noida Haat in Sector 32 from noon to 10 pm.
“After organising the festival in the national capital since 2009, we have decided to bring it to other cities, starting with Noida, in order to widen our horizons and offer more opportunities to micro entrepreneurs. The Noida Utsav will not only include street food vendors from across the country but also handicraft artisans in order to offer visitors an experience of shopping and savoring street delicacies, under one roof,” said Sangeeta Singh, street food programme head, NASVI.
Visitors will have access to a variety of street foods, including aloo chaat, malai kebab, afghani kebab, tava chicken litti, malaiya makhan, and kesariya doodh, as well as a selection of handicraft products such as carpets, khadi garments, tarkashi woodwork, and terracotta artifacts, she added.
The organizers asserted that the event would be a food festival with zero waste.
“This is going to be the first ‘zero waste food festival’ in Uttar Pradesh where no street food vendor will use any single-use plastic. We will provide all vendors leaf-based, wooden, and bamboo cutlery, and recyclable plastic containers. Every piece of waste will be segregated, and the organic will go for composting, while the package material will be sent for recycling. Materials that cannot be recycled or composted will be sent for up-cycling,” said Sanjay Gupta, a waste management expert working with the organisers.
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Arbind Singh, the national coordinator for NASVI, stated that the festival seeks to promote street food vendors both nationally and internationally, offering them improved livelihood opportunities.
“Through Noida Utsav, street food vendors as well as budding artisans and performers will get a chance to showcase their talents. There will be 50 vendors from across the country putting up stalls at the festival. Panel discussions will also be held to provide training to micro entrepreneurs and make them aware about better market understanding, mudra loans, and other schemes of the government,” said Singh.