Perception challenging to lip-smacking: Magic grips third season of KMCAs Family Food Fiesta

Doha: The third season of Family Food Fiesta, organised by the Karnataka Muslim Cultural Association (KMCA) witnessed a large gathering of families coming together to enjoy the fun-filled activities at the event.

The event, held at Al-Jazeera Academy ground on 3 February 2017 had its bit for everyone from food-lovers to gaming freaks besides entertainment, magic shows and several other competitions. Despite the chilly weather conditions, families came together to enjoy the different activities the Fiesta offered to them.

Karnataka Muslim Cultural Association (KMCA), an affiliate organisation of Indian Cultural Centre, under the aegis of the Embassy of India, Doha, Qatar, has been keeping up to its commitment by giving the community a platform to express their talents, hone their skills, while enjoying themselves in the process, as a family.

The competitions are organised in a manner that no member of a family is left behind. The Famous Cooking Competition for women, is conducted in three categories, namely the Main Course, Desserts and Yummy Healthy category; the drawing competition is conducted for children from grade 1-8; the Henna competition for women and girls aged 13 and above; the live salad making competition exclusively held for father and children and the newly introduced team activity for children to create an art piece out of waste.

Cooking competition is an event that never fails to spellbind viewers on the talents that community Master Chef women secretly possess. The event had a huge response from the community with lots of enthusiasm to present something different and learn from the event.

The drawing competition this year added a glitz with the introduction of “glitter sand” for all the children to work with. The children, while sketching their love for their country India on canvas, added sparkles to their masterpieces with the help of glitter sand. Children’s love for glue, colours, and glitters is unbeatable.

The henna competition saw some highly intricate designs transferred from the tips of henna cones by the participants onto flat surfaces, in a theme that was kept open for all participants. It was a dream come true for participants to express their artistic skills without being bound by fixed themes.

The Dad and Me Live Salad Making competition, another fun-filled competition exclusively for fathers and children, received the same amount of energy and enthusiasm as the first time when it was introduced in 2016. Watching dads, carve through fruits and vegetables to create the various elements for a salad, was a joy to watch especially since it was done for the love of the child and to participate in the competition as a team of father and child.

KMCA always brings a new element to its events and this time it was no different. A new competition was introduced for children aged 8-17 years, to participate as a team “Friend and I-Art from Waste”, competition with friends, siblings or relatives. The teamwork the children exhibited while competing is a lesson in team building for everyone. The competition required children to bring waste materials from home and create a piece of usable art work on the spot. The different kinds of art pieces created proved the efforts and practice of the participating teams.

Young and dynamic magician Mohammed Idris, fearlessly walked amidst the crowd, presenting his tricks, entertaining children, and kept the audiences enthralled, while Social Forum demonstrated the traditional martial arts, holding the audience in complete awe.

Chef Querino Mendonca from QAFCO-Clubs was invited to judge the cooking competitions along with chef Arkan from Mercure Grand, Doha. KMCA Cooking Competition winner for the past three years, Arshia Zaffar was honoured with the role of judging the competition along with Chef Querino and Chef Arkan. The judging was an intense activity with the judges pondering over each dish to give their opinion on the strengths of the dish as well as areas it could improve upon. The numbers when tallied revealed the winners.

The chilly evening saw the best of the home cooked dishes put up by Hidayah Foundation in their Home Food Chefs, Maymar Friends and SKMW food stalls. Food was offered at nominal prices, which left the visitors asking for more and more on servings of traditional biryani, haleem, chicken, delicious paya, exotic coconut water drinks and an array of teas, delicious cup cakes and more-the best combination for the cold weather. Visitors got a unique opportunity to shop for clothes, plants and books from the exclusive stalls set up by Florenza Nursery and Abu Kharbal Book Store.

The prize distribution ceremony commenced with KMCA President Abdullah Monu welcoming the distinguished guests, leaders of other community organisations, gathering and the participants. Chief guest Nasreen Shabbir, guest of honour Dr. Nayana Waagh addressed the audience, after which, community organisation leaders and representatives were invited to give away the prizes, trophies and gifts to the winners.

The event was compered by Aysha Monu. It was a fun, wholesome and rewarding evening for one and all, and a new feather in the cap of KMCAs new leader Abdullah Monu.

Winners of various competitions

Cooking:

Main Course

1. Nabeela Masood
2. Mubeena Hashim
3. Asma Sulthana

Desserts

1. Mubeena Hashim
2. Sanila Sharfuddin
3. Nazrath

Yummy Healthy

1. Sanila Sharfuddin
2. Amera Rafique
3. Fouzia Abdul Manaf

Dad and me – Live cooking

1. Muneer Sheikh and Rania
2. Imran and Hamdan
3. Abdul Azeez and Izzah Zafreen

Henna competition

1. Asila Aftab
2. Shahin Abdul Khader
3. Muskan Shaikh