susruta

I have lived in Chicago for 30 years but originally come from Toronto and visit my family there several times a year. (Actually, they live in Scarberia) I am also a food author. Chicago is like Toronto in many ways: both are sprawling cities on the lake with large and diverse ethnic communities. However, the communities are different. Chicago has huge POlish and Mexican areas where English is rarely spoken. It has large Asian populations but the restaurants aren't so hot. In fact, some Chinese people drive to Toronto for the weekend for some good meals. In the opinion of my Chinese gourmet friends (who like to rank such things) Toronto may now be the number one city in North America for Chinese food. The restaurants are incredible, especially in the suburbs where the degree of specialization is unlike anything I have seen elsewhere. The overall level is so high that if I lived there I would probably live on Chinese food. But another terrific asset of Toronto are the Caribbean restaurants, especially in Scarboro. They are almost totally absent in Chicago. Rotis and patties are a must for me when I go there. There are wonderful Trinidadian and Guyanese grocery stores where I stock up on spices, like e roasted cumin powder which I have never seen in India. Stores and restaurants serve great combinations of foods, like "Canadian Chinese, West and East Indian." !!! There are even Sri Lankan restaurants and grocery stores. All this is a gastronomical treasure trove.

I have all the books in the series except Kerala and they are all excellent. The authors (all women, I think) are very knowledgeable and write extremely well. I was so excited to buy the Northeast book recently, although I haven't 'tried the recipes. India's tribal population is asl arge as the population of France yet most people know or care little about their food. I visited Bastar many years ago and watched someone pound red ants into a very spicey pickle (which, I'm ashamed to say, I didn't try.) But we did imbibe vast amounts of sulfi, the local drink, which changed its character as the day went on! Thanks for the wonderful report on Calcutta restaurants, Mongo. We will probably go there later this year and will certainly check them out.

I have an excellent book which I bought in Trinidad called Caribbean East Indian recipes. The author is Kumar Mahabir who I think runs his own publishing house called Chakra. It has sections on Rotis, dall, sabji, chutneys and pickles, snacks and sweets plus a glossary of cooking and Hindi terms and photographs. There are 70 recipes and they look pretty good. Mr. Mahabir gives his phone number as 868 674 6008 so perhaps you can call him and order it. (Trinidad like the rest of the Caribbean, is regarded as part of the U.S. for dialing purposes) His e-mail address is kumarmahab@hotmail.com. Let me know if you have any problems

Thanks so much, Vikram. I will track down the Appuradai article.

My husband knew the chairman of the Indian Tea Board at the time this campaign was launched. In any case, tea itself is a relatively new drink in India that was introduced by the British. I don't know whether much tea was drunk in the Northeast before then. Incidentally, in Rajasthan they even boil chilies with the tea.

Does anyone have any information about the oldest restaurants in Bombay? Are there any going back to the1920s or 1930s? Any equivalents to Firpos or the restaurants in the Great Eastern hotel that became centers of Calcutta social life?

In the 1950s India had a surplus of low-grade tea. The Indian Tea Board was looking for new markets and launched a campaign to promote the drinking of tea with milk, spices, etc, which until then had not been very widespread. The idea that chai is some sort of authentic India drink is a misconception.

Nan, onion nan, tandoori roti -- -at a Bengali restaurant? It doesn't inspire confidence. Actually, the best thing about Bengali food are the wonderfu vegetarian dishes -- poshto, shukto, dal. , etc.