Kiran’s Kontrarian Korner: Cuisines, Countries, And Cultures
Cities in India are seeing a flood of new restaurants offering very diverse cuisines, including global food. This new globalisation is not limited to the metros, but is visible even in smaller cities across the country. New restaurants, with a fair proportion offering cuisine from various countries, now compete with beauty parlours and jewellers for space – and popularity – in many places.
In days gone by, international cuisine meant “Chinese” food: in quotes because at least some of it was India-innovated dishes and reaching spice-levels of Kolhapuri mutton curry. Dishes like gobi Manchurian – an example of fusion food at a time when that term was yet to become commonplace – have become so popular that recently some Municipal Councillors in Goa wanted to ban it because they felt it was replacing local dishes!
The Chinese may have difficulty in recognising such cuisine as their own, yet it has gained tremendous popularity. Visiting friends from abroad always want to savour this food and some restaurants abroad are believed to be popular only because they serve Indian-Chinese cuisine. It is, indeed, unique and, unlike parts of our common border, our neighbour is unlikely to dispute India’s claim in this case!
Globalisation (beyond cuisines) has had its ups and downs, with its one-time proponents now rapidly seeking to retreat behind protectionist walls. India, too, is raising tariffs on many imports, but we continue to espouse global trade. As in trade, it is the Indian consumers who are the biggest gainers in globalisation of taste. In most large cities, they now have a large range of cuisines to choose from: Italian, Lebanese (not-so-short for Mediterranean) and Thai are probably the commonest, but Korean, Japanese, French, Mexican, and Greek are also available. Taste and choices have evolved in conjunction so that Italian food, for example, is no longer limited to pizza or pasta, and Thai goes beyond green curry.
At the same time, innovation and Indianisation goes on apace. Pizza is no longer foreign but has been Indianised through offerings like chicken tikka pizza or paneer pizza, just as aloo tikki burgers are indicative of the close Indo-US strategic partnership. Over the centuries, India integrated many of the outsiders who sought refuge or otherwise made their way here; in the same way, foreign dishes have been absorbed into Indian cuisine – pizza being the commonest example.
The Indian palate has also developed a taste for cuisines from different regions of India. In Delhi, it is now fashionable to exhibit your gastronomical sophistication by no longer talking of “South Indian food”, but of differentiating between Chettinad dosas and Mysore dosas; of knowing Goan poi is different from pao. In keeping with our global reputation for innovation, here too our entrepreneurs fly the flag high. Dishes like keema dosa and paneer dosa are but two of many examples. Vodka pani puri takes the street-food dish to a “spiritual” level, while peri peri potato salee takes one to a higher spice level.
The diversity in cuisine – the happy coexistence of idli/masala dosa with mutton tikkas/butter chicken – and their innovative inter-mixing: these may have cultural and broader lessons for organisations and the country.
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