Karachi's iconic annual food festival turns 10.

KARACHI -- And so the iconic food festival of 'Karachi Eat' reaches double figures. The three-day event kicked off at the Beach View Park here on Friday. What started as a plan to reclaim public spaces and give people a reason to celebrate good company and build communities, marks this milestone with several innovations.

Organised by 'Eats Official', it has also started going by the new name of Eat Food Festival Karachi. But that's not all that has changed here.

Changing at least three venues and getting bigger and bigger with more and more mouth-watering options over these years, this time the festival literally lets you 'take the cake and eat it, too'. It is for the first time that those who would want to order anything from the festival from home can do so, too. 'Eat Cloud powered by Panda kitchens', the largest cloud kitchens in the country, have teamed up with Foodpanda for this. All you need to do is click on an icon dedicated to Eat Food Pakistan on the Foodpanda app.

Another addition this time is making the festival inclusive to all. There are wheelchairs for differently-abled foodies to join in and enjoy also. For this the Eat Food Festival has partnered with NOWPDP, who have also made sign language accessible here.

Three-day event to end tomorrow; youngsters enjoy great food, good company and music

Yet, another exciting addition this year is the containers, near the entrance, being used as works of art and integrating augmented reality (AR) with them to make the art come alive. The people could literally visit the AR installations and capture the artwork within them.

The mostly young crowd was easy-going and adventurous. They were up for anything. Where the older lot frowned on the entry fee of Rs600, the young happily paid up and not just for themselves but also for friends. Where the tables and chairs fell short, they sat down on the grass to share a bite, chat and enjoy the music, which included a concert, planned for each of the three days.

The festival has always been a platform for budding food entrepreneurs, who serve up the most innovative spread to a demanding audience of food enthusiasts of all ages, and this year is no different.

Among this year's 125 vendors with every dish and dessert that the heart desires, there was the young 17-year-old Dua Zehra Zain at the Snack Hack stall with her sister Esha and cousins Sajida and Misbah to help her prepare the tacos, chicken wings, etc. The winner of a competition, 'Beginnings...