British Dal Festival to celebrate lentils in Bristol this week

The magic of dal, or lentils, will be celebrated in Bristol this coming Sunday with events and a national dal trail taking place from the 10th-17th at the Paintworks.

After the success of last year’s inaugural British Dal Festival, this year’s promises to be even bigger with the United Nations expected to mark the opening day of the 10th as the first ever World Pulse Day.

The day will recognise the contribution pulses make to health, nutrition, food security, biodiversity and fighting climate change with plenty of vendors and loads of variety on show.

With dal seen as a “delicious and nutritious seeds for a sustainable future”, the festival website adds that it “seeks… [in] raising the profile of pulses and increasing awareness of their benefits. As a plant-based source of protein and other nutrients, pulses provide an immediate opportunity to reduce meat consumption and the impact of our diets on resources and climate change”.

Last year’s BBC Masterchef contestant Zaleha Kadir Olpin, a resident of Bristol herself, has told FtLion that while she’s been forced to pull out as a trader due to personal reasons, the Malaysian-born cook will be taking over the British Dal Festival’s Instagram account for a day.

Tonight and tomorrow morning (Mon-Tue 4-5th Feb), Zaleha will be allowed to add stories on prepping and cooking Malay-inspired dals before posting photos of the finished products.

Last year’s event saw 38 eateries with dishes that included dal makhani from renowned Indian restaurant Nutmeg, coriander and turmeric dal with poached egg from popular brunch spot Bakers & Co, and hake with curried lentils from critically acclaimed BOX-E.