Karachi Eat 2017 brings back festivities to the city

KARACHI: The largest city of Pakistan, Karachi, has been often seen in the local and international media headlines due to the crime stories and political sensations.

During the last two years the situation has improved and the colours of the city have started to revive. Beside the decrease in the target killings and unpredicted lockdowns, the public has started coming out for entertainment and recreation activities.

The first month of 2017 started with a wonderful food festival in the heart of the city. Karachi Eat 2017, the three-day food festival which is the biggest such festival ever in the history of Pakistan came to end with wonderful public appearance.

The Karachi Eat food festival built around the idea of creating a common platform for foodies. The iconic Frere Hall was transformed into a foodie wonderland for three days of eating, drinking and entertainment from 20th–22nd January.

From the most creative and talented chefs to street vendors, the Karachi Eat was a festival celebrated the full diversity of food that this city had to offer.

For Karachites, food was much more than just fuel for the body, and through this festival they embraced the pleasures and value of great flavor which gave them opportunity to taste extraordinary food while being immersed in a complete experience that brings face to face with the food you eat and people who make it.

Omar, one of the key persons behind the event said in a press statement, “We are quite excited to see all the new upcoming restaurants and businesses that evolve because of their participation at the festival. Karachi Eat is an iconic event and we are proud and excited that we are putting forward a positive image of our country.”

The public got an amazing variety of local and continental foods to delight their taste buds with tantalizing, delicious and aromatic cuisines.

Although some small criticisms were circled in the social media, especially from the single men as the tickets were only available for families and those who were accompanied by a female.

Unlike a simple city restaurant, the visitors seemed very choosy in their meals as about hundreds stalls presented a wide range of dishes.

The stall owners had very interesting backgrounds; some of them were the largest food suppliers to the mass gatherings in the city, while there were also stalls owners who were selling home cooked foods.

On the last night of the event majority of the stalls seemed empty before the closing of the festival due to overwhelming response from Karachites. A large number of international visitors also seemed enjoying the traditional dishes.

A visitor Saba Zohaib also appreciated the management for bringing a variety of tastes at a single place. Live music and food went hand in hand and the visitors were entertained with musical concerts and performances from renowned bands of Pakistan.

The managers of the event seemed very energetic and a good professional attitude was observed in the overall management issues.

The real time cleanliness and removal of waste increased the beauty of the event. The security measurement and traffic management from the law enforcement agencies helped making this event possible in a peaceful manner.

Syed Alay Muhammad Mohsin, a stall owner said, ‘’the people in Karachi wait for this festival for the whole year and at last it is happening. We are very excited.’’

It is pertinent to organize more such entertainment activities in the city, as due to increasing population the people have rarely have such opportunities to entertain themselves.