Neeta Lal :
AS BELGIUM’S push to help potato fries – their national dish – acquire the tag of ‘global cultural heritage’ gains traction, it makes one wonder why Indian cuisine can’t aim for such glory? After all, if the humble spud can vie for a place at par with the Peking opera and the Argentinian tango, delicious desi food surely stands an equal if not greater chance for such anointment.
UNESCO has a list of 314 items of intangible cultural heritage worthy of preservation, ranging from Turkish coffee to the polyphonic singing of the Aka pygmies of the Central African Republic. The Mediterranean and French cuisines have long acquired UNESCO World Heritage status. So why not Indian food, which is globally acknowledged as complex, delicious and teeming with health benefits?
Take the mangoes for instance. Can any other fruit beat the succulence of magnifera indica, its fleshy appeal cutting a swathe across from the royalty to the hoi polloi? India produces more than half of the world’s mango supply, exports its mangoes and mango-based products to around 80 countries, and boasts of thousands of varieties. Buddha, tis said, rested under mango’s leafy trees. Emperor Akbar laid out a garden with 100,000 mango trees.
Erstwhile US president George Bush was so enamoured of Indian mangoes that he agreed to open up the US market to the fruit in 2007 in lieu of Delhi allowing Harley-Davidson to sell its motorcycles to the Indians. The Japanese – known for their Zen-like restraint – are eating mangoes like they’re going out of fashion. Their websites are crashing under the collective weight of virtual orders! But alas, the ambrosial fruit isn’t considered ‘heritage’ enough!
Indian politicians keep jetting off to all corners of the globe for junkets led by a globetrotting prime minister. Surely they can lobby for some of their own foods to acquire universal stature? ‘Make in India’ is all very well. How about selling ‘Made in India’ to the world first?
India may not be doing enough to protect and preserve its heritage structures and monuments. But surely food – a national obsession – deserves a better treatment. Take the charm offensive of the Hyderbadi biryani. Fragrant Basmati rice mined winningly with prawn, chicken, mutton or vegetables – and drizzled with saalan (gravy) and crisp brown slivers of onion – has the power to please the most pernickety palate. Why not pitch this as heritage food?
Vada Pav is no less toothsome. The soft pao’s innards bursting with spicy chutney and deep-fried patty make for a delicious nibble, enough to segue it straight to hallowed heritage hall. Not that the ambrosial dosa – filled with increasingly inventive fillings these days including foie gras – is any less of a tasty food. The story goes that one erstwhile Mayor of London was so enamoured by the plebeian dish that he invited a famous South Indian chain to open a branch in London.
The rotund chole bhature may be a calorific bomb (400 calories a pop, since you ask) but can you think of anything else that makes you salivate as much? Stuffed with paneer, fried to a gossamer gold and teamed with spicy chole (tarted up with a squirt of lemon) this is a match made in gastronomic heaven.
And pray how can one forget the luscious kathi roll? Unctuous flat bread – topped up with a fried egg (or not), lathered with piquant sauces and then rolled up with sauteed vegetables or succulent protein – this roadside snack guarantees instant food nirvana.
Despite a fraught debate about its provenance (Afghanistan? Pakistan? India?) tandoori chicken is another Indian dish that finds a resonance across the world, even though Britain claims it as its own (but then Britain claims everything Indian as its own, including the Kohinoor). Enjoy the bird with a buttery naan, crisp roti or a pillow-soft roomali, this is manna indeed. With such a trove of foods on offer, it’s time Modi started peddling Indian food to the world!
(Neeta Lal is a journalist based in New Delhi)
AS BELGIUM’S push to help potato fries – their national dish – acquire the tag of ‘global cultural heritage’ gains traction, it makes one wonder why Indian cuisine can’t aim for such glory? After all, if the humble spud can vie for a place at par with the Peking opera and the Argentinian tango, delicious desi food surely stands an equal if not greater chance for such anointment.
UNESCO has a list of 314 items of intangible cultural heritage worthy of preservation, ranging from Turkish coffee to the polyphonic singing of the Aka pygmies of the Central African Republic. The Mediterranean and French cuisines have long acquired UNESCO World Heritage status. So why not Indian food, which is globally acknowledged as complex, delicious and teeming with health benefits?
Take the mangoes for instance. Can any other fruit beat the succulence of magnifera indica, its fleshy appeal cutting a swathe across from the royalty to the hoi polloi? India produces more than half of the world’s mango supply, exports its mangoes and mango-based products to around 80 countries, and boasts of thousands of varieties. Buddha, tis said, rested under mango’s leafy trees. Emperor Akbar laid out a garden with 100,000 mango trees.
Erstwhile US president George Bush was so enamoured of Indian mangoes that he agreed to open up the US market to the fruit in 2007 in lieu of Delhi allowing Harley-Davidson to sell its motorcycles to the Indians. The Japanese – known for their Zen-like restraint – are eating mangoes like they’re going out of fashion. Their websites are crashing under the collective weight of virtual orders! But alas, the ambrosial fruit isn’t considered ‘heritage’ enough!
Indian politicians keep jetting off to all corners of the globe for junkets led by a globetrotting prime minister. Surely they can lobby for some of their own foods to acquire universal stature? ‘Make in India’ is all very well. How about selling ‘Made in India’ to the world first?
India may not be doing enough to protect and preserve its heritage structures and monuments. But surely food – a national obsession – deserves a better treatment. Take the charm offensive of the Hyderbadi biryani. Fragrant Basmati rice mined winningly with prawn, chicken, mutton or vegetables – and drizzled with saalan (gravy) and crisp brown slivers of onion – has the power to please the most pernickety palate. Why not pitch this as heritage food?
Vada Pav is no less toothsome. The soft pao’s innards bursting with spicy chutney and deep-fried patty make for a delicious nibble, enough to segue it straight to hallowed heritage hall. Not that the ambrosial dosa – filled with increasingly inventive fillings these days including foie gras – is any less of a tasty food. The story goes that one erstwhile Mayor of London was so enamoured by the plebeian dish that he invited a famous South Indian chain to open a branch in London.
The rotund chole bhature may be a calorific bomb (400 calories a pop, since you ask) but can you think of anything else that makes you salivate as much? Stuffed with paneer, fried to a gossamer gold and teamed with spicy chole (tarted up with a squirt of lemon) this is a match made in gastronomic heaven.
And pray how can one forget the luscious kathi roll? Unctuous flat bread – topped up with a fried egg (or not), lathered with piquant sauces and then rolled up with sauteed vegetables or succulent protein – this roadside snack guarantees instant food nirvana.
Despite a fraught debate about its provenance (Afghanistan? Pakistan? India?) tandoori chicken is another Indian dish that finds a resonance across the world, even though Britain claims it as its own (but then Britain claims everything Indian as its own, including the Kohinoor). Enjoy the bird with a buttery naan, crisp roti or a pillow-soft roomali, this is manna indeed. With such a trove of foods on offer, it’s time Modi started peddling Indian food to the world!
(Neeta Lal is a journalist based in New Delhi)
