Things Indians Love

Indians love street food. There is something about street food that Indians cannot resist. Indians can have a gourmet lunch at home and still eagerly wait for the panipuri-walla to arrive. Indians can have dinner at a five star restaurant and yet come out with the itch for a paan from the street vendor. Not a single day goes by in an Indian’s life without some food from the street. No matter where they live, what they do, how much they earn, or how much food they eat at home. And street vendors are too happy to feed the craving: Indian roadsides are filled with assortments of food – in the midst of people and pollution, cars and cows, dust and dung, fume and flies.

Everyone not only loves street food but also encourages others to participate. Parents along with the lunch boxes give money to their school going kids to buy street food. Ladies have a separate afternoon snack budget for street food. Men long to eat lunch from the street vendors – array of food stalls surrounds all office buildings and long lines form in front of them. Not to mention the countless tea stores, both stationary and mobile. India has more street food venders than street lights.

In India the street food is prepared and sold on the street: vegetables are cut on the street and cleaned along with the dirty dishes; food is cooked on the street without any covers; and prepared food is displayed openly attracting flies and collecting dust. But Indians turn a blind eye to all these. Indians would ignore the skin disease on the hands that mash their food, the brown layer of grease coat on the containers that store their food; the sweat filled colorless towels that clean their plates. Real heath conscious Indians bring their own utensils to carry the food home: they do not mind the dirty food, they do not care about the the unhygienic preparation, then do not bother about the unclean water, the dust, or the flies as long as they carry it home in a clean dish. Even those Indians that obsess over bottled water would never hesitate to drink tea from any street vendor, eat food at dusty roadsides, and lick the plate that was licked by so many before them.

It is not clear what attracts Indians to street food: the lure of unhealthy and overly spicy food, the danger of disease carrying flies, or the risk of illness from recycled water that is used for both washing dishes and cooking. Maybe they do it to test the strength of their immune system. Maybe it is the extra dose of bacteria that helps Indian digest better – Indians would do anything to get rid of prevalent indigestion that they get from eating all the street food.

What is clear is this: when it comes to hygiene, street food gets full immunity in India.

Tags: , Culture, Eating Habits, India, Street Food