Radha, my friend calls it my eating marathon , but then she knows that I am no foodie. But what probably happened yesterday is a case of taste buds taking over my senses as I relished more than 25 different varieties of dishes, The fact that most of these dishes would never find their way into a regular restaurant’s menu made the experience even more delicious.

A journalist friend, Aruna dragged me to South Bangalore yesterday to an event called Aromas of Karnataka where an entire local spread of vegetarian cuisine , representing  every region of Karnataka was spread out for the foodie. I lost count of the many vadas ,  dosas and the rotis I tried as I munched into sweets and savouries..There was Davangere dosa, akki roti , dharwad peda, neer dosa , mysore masala, maddur vada, Mangalore bonda, guliappa and I tasted specialities from Malnad, Karavalli, Mysore, Kolar, Bijapur, Hubli-Dharvad besides the regular dishes.

Chatting with the cooks who got excited as I started clicking photographs, I heard that most of them had moved from interior Karanataka to Bangalore.  One of them shyly posed for me, while preparing fresh sabakki vada. I learnt that he was originally from Udupi and he has learnt many dishes from almost every part of Karnataka..

As I was getting heady with food, musician Shivamani started rehearsing for his concert as a part of the Bengaluru Ganesh Utsav. . Here are the details  for those who want to listen to some music while savouring hot pakoras. Mandolin Srinivas , Pandit Jasraj ,Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Sonu Nigam and many more are part of this utsav 

As a traveller, Ive always avoided overeating as it creates problems for my sensitive stomach. But local cuisine is something that excites me. It forms part of the fabric of local cultures and most of these dishes, prepared from a simple leaf or a spice tastes heavenly. And sadly, one needs to search for some of these dishes in Bangalore which is known for its cosmopolitan cuisines , but seems to have forgotten its own local flavour ..