Lights on healthy food at Diwali
But Council call doesn’t impress some in Indian community
People heading to this year’s Auckland Diwali Festival hoping to find their favourite Diwali food treats may find some taste a little different. Several food vendors taking part in this weekend’s annual event in Aotea Square and Queen St are preparing healthier variations of curries, snacks and treats after being offered advice by Auckland Council events arm Ateed.
That advice is part of a council initiative promoting healthy eating.
While healthy options are not mandatory, the advice has prompted calls from some members of the local Indian community for the council to leave festive food alone.
Ateed and the Auckland District Health Board held a workshop a couple of weeks ago with Diwali stallholders and provided training on healthier deep frying and worked with them to see how their menus could be improved.
Public health dietitian Jacqui Yip said stallholders were being supported to develop innovative healthier items and no sugary drinks would be sold at the event this year.
AUT University professor of diversity Edwina Pio said festive food had an emotional appeal, and authorities should keep their focus on larger businesses which command
HFor video go to nzherald.co.nz daily choices rather than festival vendors.
There will be 70 street stalls at this year’s festival of lights, which runs from midday to 9pm on Saturday and Sunday. It was attended by about 55,000 last year.
NZME office administrator Sabrina Fernandes, originally from Mumbai, sampled both the original and healthier options of two items vendor Jango Mumbai Street Food will be selling at the festival.
Fernandes, who is in her 50s and a foodie, says swapping white with wholemeal bread in vada pav — a dish consisting of deep-fried potato dumpling in a bread bun native to the Indian state of Maharashtra — did not make the cut.
“It’s just too dry and coarse, and cutting back on margarine also makes the healthier vada pav more difficult to eat,” she said.
“It’s close to the real thing, but not the real thing and not something that I would be proud to let my non-Indian friends taste and say that this is Indian street food.”
Fernandes, however, did give her thumbs up to swapping canola oil with rice bran oil in the frying of samosa.
Yip said the healthy food initiative for Diwali was part of an effort to normalise healthy food for Aucklanders.
Ateed general manager destination Steve Armitage said people attending this year’s festival would still be able to enjoy a wide range of authentic Indian cuisine.
“Seven of the 42 food vendors are providing healthier choices on their menus alongside their regular traditional festival food favourites, as part of the ADHB and Ateed Healthy Food Initiative.”
The festival proper begins at midday on Saturday and closes at 9pm on Sunday with a fireworks display.