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Karachi Eat Festival
The iconic ‘Karachi Eat’ is a food festival which is the largest event of the social calendar for the foodies of Karachi. It is the annual three-day food festival mainly focused on food stalls layered with different festivities for families. It was launched in 2014 and has grown into the most popular event in the city. The festival celebrates the full diversity of food the city has to offer by bringing together the most enthusiastic chefs and talented street vendors. It is designed as a public event that is inclusive for people from different socio-economic backgrounds to celebrate and enjoy kiosks of game sections, a jumping castle, and play areas for children as well as several concerts for the music enthusiasts.
In an interview on 20 January 2019 with VCast, the co-founders of ‘Karachi Eat’ Omar Omari and Aslam Khan shared the story behind ‘The Karachi Eat festival’, "we never knew Karachi Eat Food Festival would be a platform for food entrepreneurs to start sprouting up all over the place," says Omar Omari. The first festival of ‘Karachi Eat’ was held at Frere Hall on the 22 and 23 of February 2014, as the place is considered the center of the city. There were close to 50 stalls that had been set up across the lawn area outside the Frere Hall selling a spectrum of cuisines: Desi, Chinese, Western, Italian, and the list went on. It became a wonderful experience and a significant way of keeping Karachi’s people happy. It served as a platform for people who love food and through this festival they embrace the pleasure and value of great flavor, giving them the opportunity to taste extraordinary food while being engaged in an experience that gives you face to face interaction with people who make the food you are eating.
On the festival's 5th anniversary, Aslam Khan and Omar Omari of CKO Event Architecture have said, “This is the year of the ‘BIG EAT’. We have raised the bar in terms of venue size, a number of participants, surprise performances from Pakistan’s leading pop singers, and much more. We remain focused on our objective behind the festival, which is to provide great family entertainment, reactivation of public spaces around our cities, and to inspire a community spirit. ” In January 2018, the venue of Karachi Eat was changed from the famous Frere Hall to Benazir Bhutto Park near Boat Basin due to the footfall, according to organizers, which was approximately between 200,000 – 250,000 people over three days, which means around 40 percent more than last year. They offered 90 food stalls this year. In January 2019, the festival was held at the Beach View Park and the crazy gusts of wind and cold could not keep the food lovers away. A beautiful sunset and the venue of the Beach View Park made the well-chosen space picture-perfect at all times. This time, the organizers had exercised quite a bit of quality control, whittling down their list of 400 applicants to 95 stalls.
In January 2020, the festival was once again held at the Beach View Park. They had around 100 eateries offered at the festival this year, each introducing a new entree that is not a part of their regular menu. There is a long list of home-based and other eateries such as Chipseez, introducing their signature Beetroot, Sweet Potato, Potato Chips; Zoya’s Kitchen, bringing Cannoli (Italian pastries) to the festival and Lemon Grass, launching Crying Tiger, which we're debuting at the festival while others returned with newer plans. Some of the eateries who returned to the show once again after receiving an overwhelming response last year include Churrosity, came up with Churro Hot Dog after offering a variety of churros last year; Cloud Naan, offered Chicken Naan this time; Spicogetti, introduced their new entree Chic ‘N’ Cheese Spaghetti in addition to their signature Khausa and Singaporean Rice and Wrappeite served Bread Bowl Lasagna.
Karachi Eat 2020, it had one mentionable enterprise is EcoPak, an environment-friendly company. It is not an eatery but a very dynamic organization, contributing to creating an eco-friendly environment by providing bio-degradable utensils for eating free at the event. This was a fantastic addition, and it was very gracious of the organizers to have it; it was also a very generous initiative of EcoPak. CKO Event Architecture has been tremendously serving the local community by hosting such anticipating events. Event planners have planned activities for children to get engaged and enjoy while parents are having food peacefully and without having to worry about their kids The festival was just not entertained the foodies, but also a great event where everyone can enjoy irrespective of their age. Karachi Eat 2020, hosted a number of entertainers such as the Canadian Bhangra music group, Josh, the famous Punjabi band Sahara UK, Nauman Khalid, Zoe Viccaji, Waqar Ehsan, Falak Ahmad Shaikh, and many others. Traditionally, Karachi eats festival has built an amusing and entertaining space with recreational and fun activities for men, women, and children to celebrate the fin weekend. They have wisely selected food as the chief attraction, combined with a safe environment and space for people to enjoy the festivities with ease accompanied by friends and families. The Karachi eat festival has become an awaiting exciting event for Karachiites. It is getting bigger and better every year and has become the most awaited event from the food lovers. Events like these create a positive impact and become an opportunity for friends and families socializing and having a chance to celebrate food and fun together!!!