The West Coast of Demerara will come alive on Sunday, September 22 as the Guyanese of Indian Ancestry Association (GIAA) hosts its first-ever food fest and curry competition at the Leonora stadium. 
The GIAA has been the driving force behind the Annual Indian Heritage Exposition at the said venue for the past three years.
This year’s event is being held under the theme “Regaining Cultural Identity … Embracing Our History”.
It is the intention of the organisers to enhance inter-religious relationships by “promoting Indian culture through food”.
The GIAA team has vowed to promote and develop the cultural values of the Indian nation and to highlight all aspects of Indian culture so that the youths can embrace our history and rich culture.
Because of the fast deterioration of these values across the country, the organisation recently completed a youth development session on Time management, one of four that have been planned for the year.
However, owing to inclement weather in the month of May, the GIAA team had to reschedule the event.
This curry competition is one of a kind because the team decided to include mutton, snapper, paneer and kolounji variants instead of the normal duck curry competition.
The uniqueness is because they have opted to cater for vegetarians as well, hence the paneer curry and kolounji.
Apart from the curry competition, there will be lots of other snacks, dishes on sale which originated from India like seven curry, sweet rice, gulab jamoon, pulao, Sirni, bindi (ochro) masala, paneer paratha, potato roti, chicken curry, dhal puri and channa curry, samosa, chidwa, and peanut punch ladoo, etc.
This event is 100 per cent family friendly as all GIAA events are alcohol-free with clean and sober entertainment. There will be lots of games for adults and kids.
In addition to the entertainment, a movie will be viewed at 18:30h on big screen followed by karaoke at the interval.
The judging of the curry competition begins at 15:00h and the winners will be announced on the spot and have a chance to win over $750,000 in cash and other prizes.
Gates will be opened at 12:00h and admission to the venue is absolutely free.
Should anyone be interested in taking part in the competition or showcasing their culinary skills, they can contact any of the numbers 660-2865, 653-4745 or 647-8499.
Music for the event will be provided by Sugha and Tassa Guru.
