Haritima, first organic restaurant of India, opens at Tera Gaon

 

Mussoorie, June 8
The efforts of Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board (UOCB) to make organic food popular among the connoisseurs of taste have finally yielded results in the state with the opening of Haritima, the first organic certified restaurant in the country, at Tera Gaon, Shastra Dhara, near Dehradun.

Haritima, the brand identity for the organic food, conceptualised by UOCB after the research of more than a decade, ably supported by Dev Rishi Educational Society, Tera Gaon, Renaissance Hotel Management Institute, and Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, was inaugurated by Agriculture Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani on World Environment Day.

The Agriculture Minister, speaking on the occasion, said that it was indeed a historic day for the state and commended the efforts of all the organisations involved in it. The minister further said that the government was also planning to open such green restaurants in other towns of the state where the traditional cuisine would be served using organic produce. More than 45,000 organic farmers would benefit from this project, added Agriculture Minister Mantra Prasad Naithani.

The UOCB programme manager Binita Shah, speaking to The Tribune, said that presently the restaurant would be serving local items, namely roasted pumpkin and corn soup, three bean salad and Navrangi salad.

In snacks the local dishes such as badeel, tofu kebab, pahari chilla and mandua kathi roll will be served. In the main course bugyali kofta curry, hariyali tofu, bhang methi, gahat ka paratha, buckwheat chilla, and tofu paratha accompanied with walnut chutney, apricot chutney, pyaaz ki chutney and til ki chutney are being served. In bakery items breads, fruitcakes, finger millet and Amaranth cookies, finger millet, fruit cakes and buckwheat breads are available at the restaurant. She further said that for beverages buraansh (rhododendron) margarita, mango shake with hemp milk, apple mojito and kafal (berry) kamikaze will be served. Binita Shah said that with the increase in the popularity, more items prepared from the organic produce will be included in the culinary, for which they have entered into arrangements with the farmers directly so that there is no shortage of raw material at any cost.

The food lovers would thoroughly enjoy the taste of desserts prepared from jhangora barn yard, millet ki kheer, himkhand and bread in finger millet sauce, added Shah.

Elaborating further, she said that the whole objective of opening such restaurant was to introduce highly nutritional varieties of organic food in a way that is more palatable and promoting the traditional food items of the state. Binita Shah further said that the business community involved in hospitality industry should come forward in incorporating this business model, aptly named Haritima, so that more than 45,000 farmers involved in organic farming are kept motivated, thus re-kindling the interest towards traditional farming in them and also assisting in curbing the migration from the hills, added Binita Shah. The technical manager, Amit Srivasatava, said that they were also planning to open one such restaurant in Mussoorie so that the tourists from around the world can savour the taste of the traditional food items prepared using organic methods.