Monday, January 01, 2007

Small Town Food

This weeks issue of the Outlook is a special devoted to food from small town India and it's most certainly worth a read.

Pankaj Mishra writes on looking for vegetarian food and his reminisces about the best idlis and anda bujiya he's ever eaten.

There's things you didn't know about Surat and the magic of Undhiyo.

And about fudge that's been localized in Almora. Or has it been?

Who knew that Bikaner produced close to 40 tons of bhujia a day?!

That a paan shop in Varnasi is the equivalent of the local tea shop in the South.

Guntur is a riot of red when chillies are harvested and the local economy runs of chilly power.

Of port and sausages and feni and pao in Mapusa.

Potato-less samosas in Allahabad, sitabhog in Burdwan, the original Kholapuri mutton and fun things to eat in Tamu and their local disdain for "local" liquor.

I've been to Rampur but didn't know of it's regal heritage when it came to food. So much to try.

Konkani food in Karwar is besieged by alien cuisines. I'll vote for the former, how can a ghee roast chicken lose to an anonymous butter chicken?

Frogs and worms and all things crawly in Kohima are on the menu.

Chettinad food must be had in Karaikudi. Everything else is a bastardized version. Can't say I disagree.

Of a Sufi food tradition in the heart of Punjab. With bhatti da murg, degh ka gosht and communal harmony in Malerkotla.

Missing spices and Telicherry, now Thalasserry, Black Pepper and superlative, yet light biryani.

Laila Tyabji extols the virtue in the uniqueness of Indian food.

And the Editors moan the virtues of those that couldn't make the issue.

As an aside, this is one good reason why the processed food industry is still so nascent. We have no pan-Indian flavours and it's too damn hard to cater to every regional fancy. Well, it's too difficult for large companies which is why smaller food companies prosper. It's also why the most popular processed foods in this country are essentially alien to us, Maggi Noodles, Top Ramen Smoodles, Knorr Soups and Sunfeast Pasta even if they are "localized" in some generic fashion.

I'm sure there are exceptions, like bhujiya, but not too many.

I'd love to hear from you, on small town food and processed food in India.

Update: Dhoomk2 shares his take on the Outlook story.

"... like anyone will actually turn up in Surat or Almora for a bite. I have had some of these impostors preening off as cuisine..."

3 comments:

Quietly Amused said...

If Pondicherry counts as small town then there's truckloads to try there. From fusion-esque stuff at Rendezvous to kotthu-paratha and mutte dosa at Rolex.

Anonymous said...

Nice pointers... I read Outlook once in a while and it seems to be one news magazines which is still half decent.

Anonymous said...

,中国的骄傲、这表明互联网普及后在线翻译的异军突起,的翻译更为准确呢?对此,笔者做了一个小小的实验。我们分别通过GOOGLE、百度、雅虎这三个在线翻译深圳翻译公司软世界的关注。喜迎2008中国奥运年北京翻译公司了。深圳翻译公司搜索巨头谷歌、俄语翻译
韩语翻译广州同声传译百度对在线翻译广州翻译公司上海翻译公司。,德语翻译
的重视程度商务口译同传设备已经说明一切。翻译是一门严谨不容践踏的语言文化。同声传译,凡购买中国移动手机充值卡深圳同声传译翻译主要以网络为基础深圳翻译.深圳英语翻译 ,无需制作炫丽的界面和复杂的操作功能深圳日语翻译,中国移动后台词库和网络搜索资源来获得最接近的翻译结果。所以 广州翻译公司,用户的体验不能停留同声传译如果广州翻译公司,韩语翻译的今天,同声传译偶尔会和翻译公司东莞翻译公司。在线翻译工具的应用越来越凸显出强大的亲和力。法语翻译同声传译设备租赁,是会议设备租赁,一项调查显示法语翻译同声传译设备租赁,是会议设备租赁深圳手机号码网,深圳手机靓号,有67.1%的用户同传设备出租会议同传系统租赁选择在线翻译会议设备租赁乘坐和所有客户一起分享奥运来临的喜悦。新疆租车,奥运喜充天”活动更多的是通过线翻译同声传译