Chanachur draws visitors

Chanachur, one of the most popular traditional Bangla-deshi snacks, has been greatly sought-after by visitors to the Bangladeshi pavilion.

Made of wheat and rice dough baked in a traditional way and mixed and served with hot accompaniments, chanachur is part of the evening social scene in Bangladesh households.
However, it is almost unknown to residents in the Gulf due to the lack of marketing efforts by importers who have selling it on the ethnic market.

"When we displayed chanachur at the Global Village two years ago there weren't many takers because people didn't know about it. Last year we sold one full container of chanachur at the Bangladesh pavilion," said M.N. Alam, owner of Alam Supermarket which has six stores in the UAE.

"Since last year we have been offering free samples of chanachur and they created a lot of interest among visitors."

Bangladesh's red and green flag was first hoisted at the Global Village two years ago by five young professionals. "It was a very difficult task for us as we were not into event management.

But out of sheer patriotism and courage we managed to put up the pavilion with 32 stalls, all promoting traditional Bangladeshi commodities including handicrafts, jute products, traditional attire, rural crafts, the famous nakshi katha, Tangail and the famous Zamdani saris, ready-to-wear garments, tea, processed food, leather products, leather footwear, embroidered merchandise, terracota works, wooden gift items and real estate," said Kazi Mazharul Anwar.

"Out of the 32 stalls we had 22 companies from Bangladesh and the remaining 10 were from the UAE, all promoting Bangladeshi products."

Among Bangladeshi products, traditional garments such as the shalwar kameez and saris, along with ready-made garments, handicrafts, ceramic tableware, dry food, biscuits and real estate are prominent. But in some corners, Chinese products overshadow those from Bangladesh.