Diwali – the Festival of Lights

Spread the light of goodness, knowledge and hope by sharing an Indian-style feast this Diwali.

This year, Diwali falls on 30 October. This ancient Indian Festival of Lights signifies the triumph of light over darkness. The festival typically goes for five days, with the main celebration falling on the evening of the new moon when festival-goers light lamps and candles and share a feast.

Families, schools and learning centres can get involved in the joy of Diwali this year by lighting candles and cooking up a storm of delicious Indian dishes.

Your weapons in the battle of good against evil are the favourite Indian-inspired recipes you can download from the Foundation’s homepage. Scroll down for the free recipes, which include:

• Indian flatbread. Little fingers love kneading dough, which makes this recipe a hit for all ages.
• Vegetable samosas. Get hands-on learning geometry while folding pastry with this entertaining and delicious recipe. Don’t have time to cook? Don’t worry – this activity is just as fun to do with paper.
• Vimla’s dhal. Cast a mellow glow with this golden dhal recipe.
• Eggplant curry with yoghurt. This simple dish uses layers of fried eggplant topped with tomato sauce and a yoghurt dressing.

Set the scene for your Diwali feast with rangoli (also known as kolam or muggu) – an Indian folk art in which stunning geometric shapes are created on the floor using coloured rice or flour. For inspiration search for ‘rangoli’ in your favourite Internet search engine.

Teachers can maximise the learning opportunities of Diwali with the Festival Foods Student Resource: Celebrations and cultures. This resource takes student inquiry into new areas, looking at the important of seasonality and celebrating food sources and cycles. This resource can also be downloaded for free for the Foundation’s website – just head to the homepage and scroll down. Please note: these Diwali-related resources will only be freely available until 30 October.

Program Schools and Kitchen Garden Classroom members have even more recipes to choose from in the Indian subcontinent recipe collection on the Shared Table (the Foundation’s online community for schools and centres delivering pleasurable food education).

Contact us to learn more about how your school or learning centre can become a Kitchen Garden Classroom member.