Eating in India

Vegetarian’s paradise! The two eating options here are “veg” and “non-veg”. “Veg” is default? Brilliant! Unlike the US, where many Americans choose to be vegetarians because of the various health, environmental, and ethical reasons, the choice to be veg or non-veg here has more to do with religion. "Good" Hindus are veg. My flatmate is non-veg just for the purpose of rebelling against Hinduism (and it's caste system, etc.). However, women do not have equal opportunity to engage in such rebellion. In some circles, women are strongly discouraged to eat meat along with foods such as onion and garlic, which are all considered to create heat and increase sexual energy.

The food is highly accessible, although I was an India food lover before arrival. All the food I’ve had is delicious and I just avoid the spicier dish if there is one (in the villages we’ve visited, the food is a lot spicier). Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of buying organic food from local farms here that I do in northern California, which means my toxic-free diet is no more. I buy produce from stands set up in the market. I don’t know where it’s grown (the vendors won't tell you). Some veggies are probably from the northern state of Punjab, which like California is to the US, is the bread basket of India. Oranges come from the nearby "orange capitol" and other fruits like bananas and pineapples come from the south. On the highway the other day, I saw a truck with an open-air trailer packed full with broccoli and cauliflower—exposed to the smog, fumes, and particulates all the way. Yummm. Grapefruit seed extract is my miracle medicine that balances out the bevy of chemicals I consume.

I buy organic grains, pulses, and spices from Navdanya, all of which come from Uttaranchal, the state to the north of Delhi towards the Himalayas. My favorite favorite breakfast item is popped amaranth. It’s sooooooooo good with raisins, soaked almonds, bananas, and milk. Yes, I’m drinking cow’s milk again—actually it’s buffalo milk. Between the chai and amaranth, I feel like a calf I drink so much milk. The two alternatives are Indian-made soy milk and Silk soy milk. I stopped drinking Silk in the US because it’s owned by the Hain food group, which abuses organic standards. But the soy milk from Indian companies comes spoiled. So I tried the Silk soymilk but it is really expensive (150 ruppees compared to 15 for milk) and spoils almost as quickly. You know how the expiration date for packaged food in the US is like four years away? Well, here the date is like a week away. So, we know where all our expired food goes. After asking around, I have learned that the main milk company here ‘Mother’s Milk’ uses the same chemicals (antibiotics and hormones) as industrial milk companies in the US. I was interested to learn that here, when you get your bag of milk (everything comes in plastic bags), you boil it. This way, it keeps much longer (1-2 days instead of 8-12 hours) for us folks without refrigeration.

Other fruits I’ve enjoyed here are apples, guavas, pomegranates, and custard apple. For lunch and dinner, I’ve had Indian food for almost every meal though it’s possible to get other kinds of food. We often get food out or on the street because it’s so cheap and good. I’ve experimented some with cooking but am still developing my skills and it stinks to cook in a kitchen with no equipment. It’s no problem to whip up some rice and a veg but there’s little hope of getting any good roti(bread) out of electric burner. But last night I was asking around the neighborhood for fresh rotiand stumbled upon a bit of serendipity. One of my neighbors has a stand where he sells drinks and candy. But he also sells proper Indian meals to go with dal, rice, veg, and roti. For 25 rupees. Woo hoo!

My ethnic deviations from Indian food have included Italian, Greek, and American. American chains are pretty common—we’ve visited Pizza Hut, and TGIF (a “cool” place where a friend wanted to meet for happy hour i.e. really sucky, smokey, with bad, expensive food). Though I must admit that Pizza Hut was really good. McDonalds we refuse to go to but it’s all around.

Coffee shops are increasingly popular—especially because they’re an acceptable place for men and women to interact normally (=talk). Most of these places serve American desserts like ice cream, cake, and milk shakes. You can also buy cigarettes at them. Traditional desserts are kulfi, a delicious kashew-based ice cream, kheer- rice pudding, rasgullaa- cottage cheese balls in sweet syrup, and jalebee- deep-fried dough swirls in rosewater syrup.