Kolkata: Gastronomical capital of India
Peacefully waiting on the queue to possibly get a foreigner’s quota ticket for the train to Mumbai. I owe my peace to the most gorgeous thali that I just had for breakfast: rice, dhal, subzi, French fries and fish curry served on a banana leaf. Had it at the street nearby the Stock Exchange.. at a stall where the cooking is happening right in front of you… The much anticipated fish was divine: figuring it out with my hands, smacking my lips and slightly grunting in perfect bliss along with a few other breakfasting people sitting by my side. The pleasure was as expensive as 20 Rs (and still, I think it was too much to pay ;o)… and I could not wish any better breakfast in Kolkata. Forget fruit-salads and paranthas…
Yes, it took me some courage to stop by a stall like that…. The first one of this lot I saw nearby the train-station where rice cost 2,5 Rs and dhal cost 0,5 Rs… It was also the price that made me hesitate.. Actually, I have been having food from road-side places and dubious dhabas for long. Once I remember I found myself having tea and sweets side by side with auto-wallas and for a moment I got struck, “Is it your standard these days, my dear?”. True, I did not mind almost any place as far as vegetable meal would be concerned, yet with meat and fish I thought I should be more choosy…. Yet, in Kolkata the scope of the road-side business is mind-blowing … Neither it is secluded to the poor neighborhood and tacky railways station markets, not it equals to the low standard. I saw all sort of people having food from there…. In particular, such eateries tend to flourish nearby colleges and busy office-areas in the daytime.
As food is not secluded to the kitchens and restaurants so sweets are not a prerogative of the bakeries as they are elsewhere in India. Sweets are also available there – on the food stalls: in the plastic boxes or small trays. 2 Rs for a small juicy pancake of rasmalai that has little resemblance of the yellow idli-looking smooth round cake… and 3 Rs for a piece of an eternal burfi… Served on a tiny banana leaf plate, always on demand and hence finishing off quickly…
Following this pattern “food for everyone at any time of the day” tea is available in the similar fashion. Just like Italians who have to go for espresso en-route somewhere several times a day...irrespective….. Kolkatians would make sure they have their tea…It is cooked fresh for you anywhere… Tea-wallahs appear out of nothing and per need. So you get to see a lady with a cattle and a pile of tiny plastic cups and small clay pots… pouring out a cup for a gentleman nearby his jeep at the parking lot… or you would see some man with a cattle in a middle of a crown of some starving citizens….
As if everything is crying, “Come and indulge”…
Yes, it took me some courage to stop by a stall like that…. The first one of this lot I saw nearby the train-station where rice cost 2,5 Rs and dhal cost 0,5 Rs… It was also the price that made me hesitate.. Actually, I have been having food from road-side places and dubious dhabas for long. Once I remember I found myself having tea and sweets side by side with auto-wallas and for a moment I got struck, “Is it your standard these days, my dear?”. True, I did not mind almost any place as far as vegetable meal would be concerned, yet with meat and fish I thought I should be more choosy…. Yet, in Kolkata the scope of the road-side business is mind-blowing … Neither it is secluded to the poor neighborhood and tacky railways station markets, not it equals to the low standard. I saw all sort of people having food from there…. In particular, such eateries tend to flourish nearby colleges and busy office-areas in the daytime.
As food is not secluded to the kitchens and restaurants so sweets are not a prerogative of the bakeries as they are elsewhere in India. Sweets are also available there – on the food stalls: in the plastic boxes or small trays. 2 Rs for a small juicy pancake of rasmalai that has little resemblance of the yellow idli-looking smooth round cake… and 3 Rs for a piece of an eternal burfi… Served on a tiny banana leaf plate, always on demand and hence finishing off quickly…
Following this pattern “food for everyone at any time of the day” tea is available in the similar fashion. Just like Italians who have to go for espresso en-route somewhere several times a day...irrespective….. Kolkatians would make sure they have their tea…It is cooked fresh for you anywhere… Tea-wallahs appear out of nothing and per need. So you get to see a lady with a cattle and a pile of tiny plastic cups and small clay pots… pouring out a cup for a gentleman nearby his jeep at the parking lot… or you would see some man with a cattle in a middle of a crown of some starving citizens….
As if everything is crying, “Come and indulge”…
posted by Olga Tikhonova | 11:31 am
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