Full-day meal schedule includes breakfast, lunch, evening snacks and dinner for kanwariyas

Kanwar camps this year are offering pilgrims an unusually diverse spread — everything from traditional shahi paneer and pulao to pasta, pizza and momos — all cooked without onion and garlic, blending age-old tradition with modern tastes. Several camps have turned to technology to keep pace with demand, installing roti-makers and bulk vegetable-chopping machines, while others have gone plastic-free entirely in an effort to offer devotees a cleaner, greener environment.

According to a statement issued by the Uttar Pradesh government on Friday evening, district authorities are conducting regular inspections of private camps to keep a close watch on food quality, hygiene and overall arrangements. The kanwariyas' day begins early with tea, biscuits, poha and jalebi. Breakfast follows with a spread of samosas, kachoris, bread pakoras, vegetable hakka noodles and honey chilli potatoes.

By lunchtime, the menu shifts to heartier fare — shahi paneer, kadhai paneer, paneer lababdar, dal makhani and mixed vegetables, paired with chur-chur naan, butter naan, jeera rice and rotis. Rounding off the meal are sweets like rabri-jalebi, rasmalai, rasgulla and gulab jamun. As evening sets in, camps switch things up with spring rolls, chilli paneer, manchurian, red and white sauce pasta, vegetable pizza, momos, macaroni, soup and burgers — a spread that wouldn't look out of place at a modern food court.

Dinner brings things back to tradition with chhole-puri, matar paneer, pulao, dal and rotis, followed by kheer, halwa, fruit custard and gulab jamun. Throughout the day, camps keep a steady supply of lassi, buttermilk, juice, tea, coffee and cold drinking water flowing for devotees.

At the Kankarkheda Vyapar Sangh camp, organisers have gone a step further, installing a dough-kneading machine capable of handling 20 kg at a time alongside an automatic roti-maker. Coordinator Neeraj Mittal and operations manager Rajesh Khanna said the setup churns out roughly 16 rotis a minute — about 900 an hour — adding up to 6,000-7,000 rotis a day. Similar machines are being used to chop vegetables and prepare spices in bulk, allowing camps to feed thousands of devotees within a short window.

Not all pilgrims eat the same food, and camps have planned for that too. Sudhir Rastogi, part of the organising team at the Modipuram camp, said fasting-friendly 'falahar' meals have been arranged separately — dishes made from buckwheat (kuttu) and water chestnut (singhara) flour, potato curry, seasonal fruits, and other foods suited to religious fasting.

Many camps have gone completely plastic-free this year, switching to stainless steel utensils in place of plastic or thermocol plates — part of a broader push to keep serving areas clean and send a message about environmental responsibility during the Yatra.

Camp organisers say they are strictly following UP government guidelines on food quality, hygiene and safety. Administrative teams are carrying out periodic checks on arrangements, while hundreds of volunteers remain on duty round the clock to keep things running smoothly, the statement added.