In 2011, a group of cousins with a love for food decided to start a club called the Bangalore Food Club (BFC). Nanda Kishor KN, a senior member of technical staff, Oracle; Deepak Rajanikanth, a technical lead at IBM; Rakesh R a freelancer and an IT consultant at Compass IT Systems and Solutions and Kiran Ramaprasad, an R&D hydraulic engineer at Yuken Indian Ltd, aimed at getting the foodies of the City together and make them aware of the local food and delicacies available here.
However, over the years, the club grew by leaps and bounds and today, it boasts of over 1250 members on Facebook.
“There are many food apps today. But most of them focus on luxury hotels and posh eat-outs. That’s how we differ as we give information on all kinds of places from streetside stalls to five star hotels,” says Nanda Kishor KN.
“We share what we experience as foodies and there is no competition. We are very active on Facebook and always follow a theme pertaining to food. For instance, we recently held the ‘idli’campaign, where we focussed on popular and unique recipes of ‘idlis’ prepared by the popular local hotels of Bengaluru.”
“We keep meeting on a regular basis and discuss our love for food with each other. We get a lot of appreciation for our work. There are people who have come to us asking for the address of a particular eatery that we recommend,” says Rakesh.
However, distance proves to be a major challenge when it comes to meetings. That’s when social media comes to their rescue.
Posting photographs about a particular theme not only allows them to be in constant touch with each other but also learn more about food.
“Everyone in the City is well-versed with popular restaurants. But what we want to highlight is the little ‘gems’ of the City,” says Deepak.
“By the end of this year, we are hoping to have 5,000 members. We are very active on Facebook and Twitter,” he adds.
The members also want to help people from other parts of the country settled here learn more about the local food and culture.
“Bengaluru is full of people from different parts of the world and we want to popularise the local food among them. We want small eateries to gain more popularity and be appreciated for their hard work,” says Sahana, another active member.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> MetroLife / by Surupasree Sarmmah / DHNS- Bengaluru, July 07th, 2015