The delicacies of the State brought together and served in a platter named Jharkhand Thali (A combination of 11 local delicacies) launched by the State Tourism Department with much pomp and show on the occasion of World Tourism Day on September 27, 2015 has gone missing from the eateries and restaurants. After almost two years of its official launch none of the prominent hotels, restaurants and popular food joints in the Capital City serves the Jharkhand Thali or a set of cuisine.
“The local Jharkhand cuisine is available at our hotel’s restaurant only on special occasions otherwise it is not part of our regular menu,” said a manager of Radisson Blu Hotel. “We included it in our menus initially when the plan was proposed but not many people opted for it,” he said when asked about why the local cuisine is not available.
Similarly, the thali was not available in popular restaurants of the city like Kaveri restaurant, Kav’s restaurant, Yellow Sapphire, Chanakya BNR, The Royal Retreat, The Palm Resorts Hotel and Pearl Regency etc.
Some well-known food items in the conventional Jharkhandi platter are chhilka, dhuska, kurthi daal, red rice, maduwa roti, lal saag, khassi ka jhol, dehati chicken, dudhiya and dudh peetha. It was said that the Thali comprising of all those items will be made available at the tourist complexes and major restaurants in the city.
“We rarely found people ordering for Jharkhand Thali or any local delicacy and hence as our business is about putting the stuff that is most demanded by the public, we don’t serve it now but once people want to eat it we will provide it,” stated a BNR Chanakya staff.
“I have heard a lot about the combination of maduwa roti-lal saag and Dhuska with mutton curry but I haven’t found those in any restaurants around the city and I am not too much fond of street food and so I expected Jharkhand Thali to be available in the hotels,” said Anwesha Sengupta, a tourist from Kolkata.
Surprisingly, the local cuisine is popular in the famous Dilli Haat, an open-air food plaza and craft bazaar located in Delhi, run by Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC). A Jharkhand Food Stall provides local Jharkhandi dishes such as Owal Jimilkandi, Madhwa Roti saag, Mutton-rice, dhuska and the other routine dishes. “People like eating Maduwa Roti, Mutton-rice etc. The Jharkhand food stall is a popular one, among the other ones here,” informed a Dilli Haat official.
Presently, Dhuska is readily available in the stalls and in some of the restaurants too across the State but the residents and the tourists are still not aware of the other items of the Jharkhandi Thali. “We don’t have the full local Jharkhandi platter but we do serve Dhuska here,” said Jungli Moon Dance Restaurant official.
The Tourism, Art, Culture, Sports & Youth Affairs Department of the government of Jharkhand is mulling to find ways and means to popularize the local food. “We are planning to work on promoting the local food culture as we will be conducting a meeting with the restaurant owners to prepare a framework as of how to include Jharkhandi thali in the menus again. We will also be reviewing the items in the Jharkhand Thali to see if we can add any more item,” said Bidyanand Sharma Pankaj, Deputy Director State Tourism, Art, Culture, Sports & Youth Affairs Department.
