For Indians, samosa is not just a snack. It’s a sentiment felt by all, at least in some parts of the country. The humble samosa has now made its presence felt across the world. A city in the United Kingdom is even celebrating a National Samosa Week.

To be held from April 9 to April 13, the National Samosa Week is being launched by the founders of Leicester Curry Awards. The organisers claim proceeds from the event will go to this year’s Leicester Curry Awards charity partners Leicestershire Action for Mental Health Project (LAMP) and Care of Police Survivors (COPS).

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The event also aims to draw attention to the rich culture and food heritage of South Asia.

“There’s a national food event for everything from burgers to beer so why not samosas? The savoury dish has grown in popularity and for many people in the South Asian community, eating one is like the equivalent of having tea and cake,” Romail Gulzar, founder of Leicester Curry Awards, posted on its website last month while announcing the event.

Tracing samosa’s history, the website says it is said to have originated prior to the 10th century, from the Middle East where it was known as Sanbosag in Persian texts. It was particularly popular among travelling merchants, which is why the tasty snack might have made their way to other parts of the world, especially South Asia.

In India, the triangular fried snack is traditionally stuffed with a savoury filling, mainly spiced potatoes. Many use peas and onions too. The non-vegetarian variety often comes with minced mutton or chicken filling. Samosa is also known as ‘singhara’ in some states. In Bengal, ‘fulkopir shingara’, which is made with a cauliflower filling, is quite popular.

As part of the launch of the National Samosa Week in April, the organisers will be setting up a pop-up shop in Leicester city, encouraging people to buy, eat and sell as many samosas as they can.

“We want to encourage people all over the UK to buy or make their own samosas during the week and sell them at work and schools to raise funds for their local community or charities. We’re hoping this could be the start of something really popular and we hope it will gain momentum with each passing year,” the website quoted Gulzar as saying.

While announcing the National Samosa Week, the organisers had invited people to get involved with the event, suggesting ways they could do so. Urging people to raise money for charity during the event, the organisers invited them to part National Samosa Week

The organisers have also urged people come up with “most inventive” samosa recipes.

There might also be a ‘Man vs Samosa Challenge’, in which the person who eats most samosas in the quickest time will be the winner.

As per a PTI report, some of the winners of the prize draw during the National Samosa Week will win tickets to the Leicester Curry Awards 2018, to be held in Leicester on April 22 where over 30 of the city’s shortlisted restaurants will compete for the top prize.

‘Leicester Curry Awards’ was founded in 2016 to “celebrate the hundreds of curry houses in the city with their roots in the Indian subcontinent”.