Cuttack: Missing the rustic Odia feel in Bali Jatra? What can bring it more alive than our traditional food items. Some of them may have lost out to instant noodles and fancier food such as pizza and burger in urban, even semi-urban homes, but they live on as a marker of our culture.
If you need proof, come to this stall. It sells all Odia dishes that are getting gradually distanced from the newer generations. On offer here are chakuli pitha (pancake made out of a barter of rice and black gram), manda, kakara (sweet dishes made primarily of suji or rava), nadia bara (vada made out of grated coconut), enduri pitha (cake with gram, rice paste and coconut as ingredients), the famous thunkapuri, kheeri (made out of milk and sugar and either rice or vermicelli or suji) and many more items identified with Odia culture.
The rush at the stall tells you that our traditional food still has good fan following, particularly among youngsters. People may have taken a liking for alien dishes but their love for Odia food remains undiminished.
