Kozhikode: Imagine savouring 'ice urathi', cut fruit platter, and 'uppilithathu'. What if that comes with the sea breeze caressing you.
And if the premises and the food products are clean and hygienic, what more can you ask for?
Tourists and locals who relish Kozhikode's love affair with the palate, will soon get to fulfil all these dreams stitched together.
Kozhikode corporation is all set to convert the beach area from the corporation office to the open stage into the state's first beach street food centre.
It would be a swanky makeover in style and presentation and cleanliness and hygiene will be top priority.
The project to start Kerala's first beach street food hub has been initiated by Kozhikode collector Seeram Sambasiva Rao incorporating port department, corporation, Suchitwa mission, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), and traffic police.
It aims to improve the quality of food, ensure drinking water, maintain cleanliness and make this initiative a model hub in the State. Sponsors have also been chipped in to bring in more funds to develop the hub.
Street food vendors with a license will be allowed to carry out business in the new location near the beach with better facilities.
Though the vendors have been shifted to the new spot on November 4, more plans are yet to be implemented. The project has come in to effect but development of the vending zone would take place gradually.
By sticking to the guidelines of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), a blueprint of the food hub and vending cart designs will be prepared by DG College of Architecture in Malappuram.
According to the present plan, all vending carts will have special designs to arrange the utensils and to store generated waste.
Proper lighting and waste disposal facilities will be ensured by the Kozhikode corporation along with the help of Ports Department.
In order to manage waste disposal, the authorities have roped in Kudumbashree units to collect the waste from each vending cart.
The area which was earlier used by the vendors has been marked as parking zone and the new location allotted to the vendors has been marked as the vending zone.
“Most of the vendors near the beach area has been shifted to the vending zone. There are few vendors scattered on the beach and will be shifted soon once they get the license,” said P K Aleyamma, Assistant Commissioner of Food Safety.
In order to start the business, a vendor has to get license from the port department, corporation and food safety department.
Around 90 vendors who got a license has been given the training to run the business in the best hygienic manner.
The hub will ensure more visitors to try the local flavours from the vendors as it is more hygienic compared to the earlier ones. “We rarely buy food items from the beach as they have questionable hygienic standards. I am also concerned about the water quality especially when I have kids with me. If a clean street food hub comes in effect, it would be really great for visitors like us,” said Abid, a local resident.
Meanwhile, some visitors are also of the view that a separate zone for eateries would affect the beauty of the beach. “Same pattern for the stalls will take away the variety and uniqueness that we get now,” Sindhu, a regular visitor to the beach.
