The final episode of our Kumaoni Food Series featuring a village and nature walk in the Corbett National Park area will be up on our YouTube channel at 9 pm tonight. Stay tuned for a serene and wondrous experience from this pristine jungle area in Uttarakhand.
What an immersive, enriching and endearing experience it has been exploring a slice of the wide and pristine Kumaoni cuisine canvas. Heartfelt gratitude, love and best wishes to all our hosts, chefs, shop owners and locals for their warm hospitality, enthusiasm, wisdom and generosity that made this journey memorable. We will soon get back here for more culinary stories from this enchanting state.
In the final episode of our Kumaoni Food Series, we have embarked on a village and nature walks with our endearing host Mr. Manoj who is the Operations Manager at Solluna Resort. The exploration includes a visit to the nearby village and its surrounding wilderness and absorb the pristine and awe inspiring natural beauty. After navigating through the bridge and rugged trails beside the riverside, we reached the village of Bauli. It was a lush green stretch dotted with cement and stone houses.
Manoj ji took us to different corners of the hamlet and even a few of the houses to acquaint us with some quintessential village stuff and the local flora. His deep knowledge about his surroundings left us enriched and inspired. After getting acquainted with some key plants and trees from the area we climbed up a watch tower to view the spot from above. Manoj ji told us that the nearby spot in the river sometimes does have tigers as visitors. The solitude was quite jarring yet peaceful.
After that enthralling nature walk we returned to the resort and headed to Manoj ji home in Sankar village to meet his family and relish some snacks. The warm smiles of his family members made us feel at home. Very quickly, his mother and sister in law prepared us a delicious meal that included mandua ka halwa, kele ka raita and choice roti. The smell of the fresh ghee and jaggery from the halwa and the sweet pancake ushered in childhood memories. What a gratifying experience we had with them.
Heartfelt thanks to Manoj ji, his lovely family, Chef Trilok Ji, Chef Deepak ji, Vinod Pathak ji, Chef Kundan, Chef Preeti and all the staff members at Solluna Resort for making this experience so memorable.