For the first time, the Pearl Continental Hotel, Lahore, is organising South Indian Food Festival from September 4 to 18.
People hailing from different walks of life both from India and Pakistan, including showbiz personalities from Pakistan will attend the festival.
Indian chefs and the food and beverage manager of Upal's Orchid Hotel, New Delhi, have reached Lahore to prepare various Indian dishes during the festival.
Punjab Tourism Minister Mian Muhammad Aslam Iqbal will inaugurate the festival on September 4. Lahore PC General Manager Peter F. Eyssens is addressing a press conference here on September 3 to give details of the event.
The Pearl Continental Hotel, which is venue of this festival, has been decorated while a number of cultural programmes have also been planned for this event, said senior PC Official Khurram Hashmi.
Giving details of the event, Hashmi said that various Indian food items would be offered to customers during this festival, adding the Indian chefs have brought their pickles, spices and other ingredients, which would be used in preparation of different dishes.
He said that Marcopolo Restaurant of the hotel is the venue, where Indian dishes will be served to visitors on prescribed rates, adding that during the recent Pak-India cricket series, the Pak Food Festival was also arranged in Upal's Orchid Hotel, New Delhi.
At a time when Pakistani and Indian foreign ministers are going to meet in New Delhi during next few days, the Punjab metropolis will become the centre of Pak-India activities, he added.
Professor Mushirul Hasan, vice-chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, and Professor Zoya Hasan of the Department of Political Science, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, are already in the city, he said, adding that around 20 Indian children will reach Lahore on September 5 to take part in a play "Border-Border" based on peace theme along with the Pakistani children.
Hashmi said a 50-member Indian delegation led by Haryana Chief Minister Om Parkash Chotalah is also arriving here.
Moreover, Indian carpet manufacturers and exporters are also present in the city to explore business opportunities with their Pakistani counterparts, Hashmi added.