Where dahi-jalebi meets wazwan — flavours of nation on platter at street food fest

The 15th edition of the National Street Food Festival at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here has turned into a vast, open-air map of India’s food culture. Spread across the grounds, stalls run by street vendors from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala, Manipur, Nagaland and several other states are drawing long queues, offering not just flavours but family histories, craft and personal journeys shaped by survival and reinvention.

The three-day festival, organised every year by the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), brings together more than 500 vendors from 27 states and Union Territories, serving over 500 regional and traditional dishes. This year’s edition is particularly significant as lakhs of street vendors nationwide celebrate NASVI’s 25th anniversary.

The festival seeks to spotlight the scale of India’s street food diversity and the role vendors play in shaping the country’s cultural landscape.

For Lucknow-based vendor Sujit Kumar Saini, the festival is now an annual milestone. Before he began selling galauti kebabs and biryani, Saini worked at a hand embroidery unit in Mumbai. “Work ended when machines took over,” he recalled. Nearly a decade ago, he switched to food vending in Lucknow, where he eventually met representatives from NASVI. “I hesitated at first,” he said. Later he joined, received hygiene training and got help in securing his FSSAI certification.

His wife, Jyoti, joins him at the festival every year. “Our shop runs very well back in Lucknow, but coming here feels different,” Saini said. “I get to meet people like me from across the country.” He has been participating since 2017.

The festival is also a platform to spotlight vendors whose stories span generations. Maurya Mishthan Bhandar from Ayodhya, known for its kachori and dahi jalebi served in kulhads, drew visitors with its fourth-generation legacy. “Since my baba’s time, we were into milk, rabri and curd,” said vendor Deep Narayan Maurya. Over the years, his family expanded the business to jalebi and other sweets.

Maurya first met Prabhat Singh, a NASVI representative, in 2018. He tasted his dahi-jalebi in Ayodhya and tried for days to convince him to participate in the festival. “He didn’t entertain me at first,” the representative joked. Maurya eventually agreed and now credits the platform for his learning.

“Earlier, we didn’t know much about hygiene and presentation,” he said. Master classes with chefs, including one where celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor gave tips on technique and presentation, changed the way he worked. “It’s mainly exposure that we get here,” he said.

A few stalls away, another Uttar Pradesh vendor, Dinesh Kumar Gupta from Etawah, served his traditional lachhedaar rabri - a recipe passed down through generations.

From Kashmir, Mohammad Salim brought a full wazwan spread, attracting visitors like siblings Charu and Nishant, who described themselves as “on a food spree,” hopping between Kashmiri dishes and various pani-puris.

Kerala stalls offered banana chips and other classics, Karnataka vendors served Mysore masala dosa, paneer dosa, corn dosa, rava dosa, akki roti, neer dosa, bhaji and lemon rice.

From Kolkata came egg rolls, chowmein, Mughlai paratha, jhalmuri and puchka.

Manipur vendors brought Burmese mohinga, nakupi bora, black tea (changang) and lapheto salad. Nagaland’s spread included sticky rice roti, singju and chicken momos.

A new attraction this year was a row of e-cooking stalls, where young vendors dished out pizza, pasta, macaronis, burgers, sandwiches, coffee and fries, a reflection of changing food habits and evolving street food entrepreneurship.

This year, the festival has introduced competitive segments such as a “Biryani Battle” with entries from Hyderabad, Lucknow, Kolkata, Malabar and Kashmir, and a “Pani Puri vs Golgappa” face-off under the theme ‘Chaat Dhamal’.

A special “Chai Junction” is serving 10 varieties of tea.

Younger visitors have access to a dedicated children’s zone, “Dil Toh Bachcha Hai”, which includes games, competitions and interactions with child actor Aarush Verma.

Stalls focused on children’s favourite snacks, designed with added emphasis on hygiene, are part of the section.

The festival has also widened its palate with dishes from Tibet, Nepal, Afghanistan and the Philippines, bringing an international element to India’s largest street food event.

“It’s exposure, learning and meeting people,” said Maurya, summing up what keeps vendors returning year after year. “You don’t get this anywhere else,” he added.