Surat to Host 10-day वन Bhojan Food Festival From August 21
Surat Restaurant to Serve Tribal Dishes from Dang During 10-day Food Festival
Surat will get a taste of Dang’s traditional food culture as Surat Kitchen at Le Méridien Surat hosts a 10-day food festival featuring dishes linked to the tribal communities of the district.
Called વન Bhojan, the festival will run from 21 August to 30 August 2026 at Surat Kitchen, Magdalla Circle, Dumas Road. Lunch will be served from 12.30 pm to 3 pm, while dinner will be available from 7 pm to 11 pm.
The festival is being held in collaboration with Dangi Restaurant, Dang, which works to preserve and present the food traditions of the region. According to the information provided for the event, women from the local community run the restaurant and have an important role in keeping these recipes and cooking practices in use.
The event also brings traditional crafts into the setting. Local artisans are being included through displays of their work, giving visitors a chance to see parts of Dang’s cultural life alongside its food.
Dang is one of Gujarat’s main tribal regions and has a food culture shaped by its hills, forests, farms and seasonal produce. Gujarat Tourism describes Nagli, or finger millet, as a crop grown mainly in the tribal hilly district of Dang and notes that Nagli Rotla is popular among the state’s tribal communities.
That makes millet an important part of the menu planned for the Surat festival. The dishes listed for वन Bhojan include Nagli Rotla, Nagli Papad, Dangi Sabzi, Bhujiyu, Bamboo Shoot Curry, Dang Style Dal, smoked corn preparations, forest mushroom dishes, black rice preparations and seasonal forest vegetables. Garlic and chilli chutney will be served with the meal.
The dessert section will draw on two ingredients associated with the region and its seasonal produce, Mahuda and custard apple.
Chef Priyanshu has curated the festival with traditional culinary experts from Dang. The organisers say the menu is based on recipes, ingredients and cooking methods passed down through generations.
Some of the food may be unfamiliar to diners used to standard Gujarati restaurant menus. Nagli Rotla, for instance, is made from finger millet rather than wheat. Gujarat Tourism describes Nagli as a nutrient-rich millet grown in the hilly tribal areas of Dang. The wider Gujarati food tradition also has a strong place for millet-based breads, including Nagli Rotla, Juwar Rotla and other forms of rotla.
The food festival comes at a time when Gujarat’s tourism sector is giving greater attention to regional food, crafts and local culture as part of the visitor experience. Gujarat Tourism promotes the state through its food, heritage, festivals, natural areas and local traditions. Its tourism material also identifies Dang as a destination with tribal heritage, local cuisine and nature-based attractions.
Dang’s tourism profile is closely tied to places such as Saputara, Gira waterfalls and the surrounding forest areas. A Gujarat Tourism development document records about 8.03 lakh visitors to Saputara in financial year 2022-23, along with around 2.40 lakh visitors to Shabhari Dham and Pampaasarovar and about 1.35 lakh visitors to Don. The document also identifies local tribal heritage and cuisine as part of Dang’s appeal.
Food has also become part of the cultural programmes connected with Dang. Gujarat Tourism’s recent Saputara Monsoon Festival programme has included tribal food tasting, Warli art workshops, bamboo workshops, traditional instruments, tribal dance demonstrations and other activities linked to the region’s culture.
वन Bhojan follows a similar approach inside a hotel dining setting. The organisers plan to use bamboo and earthen decorations, mud pots, displays of millet and other ingredients, live rustic cooking stations and Dangi-inspired music. Chef interactions will also form part of the programme.
The setting is worth noting. Surat Kitchen is the all-day dining restaurant at Le Méridien Surat, a hotel located at Magdalla Circle on Dumas Road. Marriott’s official listing describes Surat Kitchen as a multi-cuisine restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. The hotel has 170 rooms and suites and is located about 3km from Surat International Airport, according to the hotel’s current information.
For diners, the festival offers an opportunity to try food that is usually associated with homes and community kitchens in Dang rather than a conventional city restaurant menu. For the people involved in producing and presenting these foods, the event provides a public setting where traditional recipes, local ingredients and craft work can be seen by an urban audience.
The role of local women is also a central part of the collaboration with Dangi Restaurant. Their involvement reflects the part that community-run food businesses can play in keeping regional recipes in everyday use. The festival’s support for local artisans adds another layer, linking food with other forms of traditional work from the area.
The organisers describe the menu as farm-to-table, with its focus on seasonal vegetables, millets, forest produce and traditional preparation methods. The exact sourcing arrangements for each ingredient have not been detailed in the information available for the event, so the term is best understood here as a description of the food approach rather than a claim about the supply chain for every dish.
For Surat residents, the 10-day programme provides a chance to explore a lesser-seen part of Gujarat’s food culture without travelling to Dang. For the wider hospitality sector, it also shows how regional cuisines can be presented through restaurant events while keeping the communities and traditions behind those foods part of the story.
વન Bhojan will be held at Surat Kitchen, Le Méridien Surat, Magdalla Circle, Dumas Road, Surat, Gujarat 395007, from 21 August to 30 August 2026, with lunch from 12.30 vpm to 3 pm and dinner from 7 pm to 11 pm.
