Indian Cities One Must Visit For

[skchai]

Back on Chowpatty, on the opposite side of the road there's a whole bunch of 'interesting' restaurants, where 'interesting' must not be taken to equate with 'good'. I call this area, between the two overbridges Gujju Gulch because that's where Gujju's all come out in the evening to eat (I'm half Gujju, I'm allowed to be rude about them). So the restaurants all (a) are vegetarian and (b) have very rich food, and © are mainly focussed at the GTM, or Gujju Turned Mod crowd, which means that they also do examples of world cuisine tweaked for Gujju tastes, which means extra chillies and everything drowned in melted processed cheese. There is a restaurant in that bunch called Revival where I have never seen ANY dish not drowned in melted processed cheese. Others in the line are called Cream Centre, America and New York New York and that probably gives you an idea of what they're like more than anything else.

A bit of a digression, but could you enlighten us some more, Vikram about this Gujju-Mod phenomenon? One hears reports about Gujju-TexMex, Gujju Pizza, etc. being much more prevalent than the originals in Bombay. Presumably there is Gujju-Thai Curry as well. Why have Gujaratis seemingly dominated the introduction of these foreign cuisines into the city, as well as the way in which they are adapted to local tastes? Thanks!

[Vikram]

A bit of a digression, but could you enlighten us some more, Vikram about this Gujju-Mod phenomenon? One hears reports about Gujju-TexMex, Gujju Pizza, etc. being much more prevalent than the originals in Bombay. Presumably there is Gujju-Thai Curry as well. Why have Gujaratis seemingly dominated the introduction of these foreign cuisines into the city, as well as the way in which they are adapted to local tastes? Thanks!

Well I guess its partly because Gujaratis are a well off community so they have the money to go out and eat, and they're also a well travelled community, because so many of them go abroad for work, or have gone to visit relatives in the vast Gujju diaspora that stretches from East Africa to New Jersey.

A more intangible factor I think is that I think Gujjus are quite an outgoing community, like the Punjabis, ready to party and have fun. Or sometimes I think its more that Gujjus are inclined to excess in everything they do. When they have fun, its like Navratri when everyone goes nuts. When they eat, its always in super abundance. When they fast on the other hand, its also extreme - I know all these Jains who have done 40 day fasts (one girl did it at 16!).

Gujarat is the one Indian state to be rock solid on Prohibition - though again, when Gujjus drink its to excess (go to Daman and Diu to see it). And of course, when they make money, its always abundantly (Reliance is a Gujju company), though unfortunately when they commit frauds, they also take everyone to the cleaners. I don't think its an accident that Gandhi was a Gujju - you need that sort of Gujju excess passion to do what he did. (Unfortunately again here, there's a negative, in the Gujju excesses that got Modi into power).

Anyway, back to food, the point is that because they are passionate about everything they do, and because eating is one of the most basic Gujju passions, they do it to excess and hence dominate the eating out scene in Bombay. (And if you really want to see passionate eating out, go to Ahmedabad). And since they've been exposed to different cultures and types of food on their travels, they are keen on trying them - but as long as its vegetarian (or for Gujju Jains, as long as its Jain, meaning no onions, garlic, etc.)

I think this attachment to vegetarian food is another sign of Gujju excess because it can be very deep, even when in every other way they hardly fit the 'vegetarian' mindset. I have a friend who drinks like crazy, sleeps around like crazy - but is absolutely firmly vegetarian. You can have the most sophisticated, well travelled, wordly Gujaratis, who done everything, been everywhere, experienced everything - except eating meat. Its like an identity thing, this emphatic vegetarianism.

The ultimate expression of this is, of course, the Kitchen Car tours of Europe that Indian tour companies now run. The companies have realised that there's a large number of Gujjus (and other vegetarian communities like Marwaris) who really want to travel and see places, but don't because they aren't sure they'll get their food where they go. So the companies arrange these tours where the groups go everywhere - Paris, Florence, London, you name it - and wherever they go this mobile kitchen goes with them, equipped with a 'maharaj', an Indian chef to dish out the vegetarian food that they want! Its quite an incredible concept and I've often wondered if locals in these countries could avail of service of these kitchen cars since that's one way you could get really authentic Indian food. (I wonder if there are Kitchen Car tours of the US now).

When it comes to Bombay, restaurants here have no option but to have large vegetarian and furthermore, Jain, sections or they know they won't get the customers. All the chefs I know moan about this, not least because of the double standards that they say these customers inflict on them. These customers only want vegetarian food, they say, but if you use the same vegetables they eat at home then they don't want that either. As one really talented young guy (who has since moved to Canada) told me, "I can slave away making the best aubergine dish for them and they'll come and say, "arre, this is just baingain and look what they are charging for it!" "

The solution then is to use vegetables and stuff which isn't part of traditional Gujju food. Hence the plague of the Bs that has descended on our vegetable markets - babycorn, broccoli, brussels sprouts, bok choy. Hence eager use - and overuse - of those parts of international cuisine that can be vegetarian like pasta or tacos. And hence above all that sea of melted processed cheese (it is not a coincidence that the company that makes it most of it, Amul, which Monica recently wrote about, is based in Gujarat).

I wish I could be more complementary about this modern Gujju food since I do appreciate the fact that many Gujjus are passionate about food and that there is at least theoretically the potential for interesting fusion here. But I've just survived a cousins wedding in the course of which I immersed myself in Gujju food again, both the old style, at the homes of Gujju friends my mother and I visited before the wedding, and the new style, at some of my more mod cousins' place and at the wedding itself. And the gap between the two was HUGE! The traditional Gujju food was so good. And the new GTM stuff so totally, completely, drenched in cheese, vile....

Vikram