Foods of India

Chennai, India, July 24, (food picture) Travel day from Chennai to Pune, India via airplane. We are now on the west coast of India a few hours drive from the ocean city of Bombay. It is cloudy like at home but it has been warm. It rains often. This area is an agricultural area. The plane ride was a little interesting on the landing. They seem to land fast and hard here at this airport. We went to the Department of Inter University Center for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUACC). They are a small group of professors and grad students that put together small science kits for rural India using only items you would find in a small village. They create science toys. Very fascinating to see what they can do with limited supplies. All their activities are put on the internet and published in books that go out to rural villages.
I said I would talk about the food and drink as there is quite a lot of Indian cuisine and it is different from the north to the south. For those not interested in Indian cuisine or drink, you can stop here. Alcoholic drink is limited and many places are dry. Westerner hotels carry alcohol but at a stiff price. This state (Maharashtra) actually has the start of a wine industry. There is a red wine that the Fulbright-Hays women drink. It can be found in America. Here Kingfisher is the Budweiser (oh, wait they were sold while I was gone) of India. There also is a Kingfisher airlines and I am not to sure if I like the cross over marketing here. I have yet to find a microbrew or an Indian Pale Ale. We did find a black market Kingfisher in a city that is dry. That is an interesting story in itself. I just paid 35 rupees for a diet coke at India’s version of Target. I have paid up to 100 rupees ($2.5 US) at a hot, humid fort in Hyderabad for a diet coke. USEFI (The Indian Fulbright Hayes organizers) provide us with cold water daily on the bus and most of us hoard it and drink it in the restaurant at dinner rather than pay for water. We also brush are teeth with bottled water. At breakfast there are many fruit drinks (feni). For those following the story on watermelon juice as the new Viagra, we drink lots of watermelon juice. We also drink lots of mango and papaya juice. Lassi is a thin yogurt drink that is served in the mornings. They have this lime juice that I don’t care for. Other than breakfast only tea and coffee are served usually. People here drink 7-10 chai (tea, milk, sugar) in small little disposable clay cups. Seven to ten would equal less in volume than a double tall latte.
In Southern India the vegetables are the king as most people are vegetarian. Some eat eggs or fish and poultry. The thali (large platter with many katoris (bowls)) has six or more little dishes each containing a vegetable or pulse. They also give you dahi (yogurt). When the food gets really hot, dahi is the best fire extinguisher and sometimes that doesn’t help. You usually start with rasam (a clear soup) and worked around the plate, mixing everything with the rice from the center of the plate. You end eating mighai (sweet pudding).
The north is more a grain area so there are lots of breads. Today there was at least six different types of grain products to include naan (garlic naan is to die for), chapatti, roti, paratha and paper thin romali rotti. Most dishes are cooked in a tandoor (clay oven). Lots of chili peppers which I try to avoid. I thought in one dish I was eating a tomato and it turned out to be a pepper which I didn’t figure out until after I swallowed. I could not talk for about five minutes my throat was burning so hot. I ran around the table drinking everyone’s yogurt. They thought I was nuts. In the north you used the bread to pick up the meat, dhal and sazi (vegetables).
In hotels they cater to all different nationalities so you can get typical American breakfast. Every meal has traditional Indian dishes. Some people in our group only eat Indian food and some stick to mostly American food. I try to eat mostly Indian food. I have not eaten beef or pork since being here but I eat fish and chicken. I can’t eat beans and rice every meal to get the appropriate amino acids. We learned that India’s agriculture colleges are working on increasing the iron content in rice. Research shows that 70% of child bearing woman are significantly deficient in iron which causes problems in fetal development because of their vegetarian diet. The food has been so good here that I only eat two meals a day (skip dinner) and eat nothing between meals. I will come back a few pounds lighter. In a country that is so poor we have guilt on eating so lavishly when only 50 yards away out on the streets there are starving people. We tried giving some boxed food to a sleeping man out on the streets of Chennai and that only created another interesting story.