{"id":1387,"date":"2005-04-20T12:57:37","date_gmt":"2005-04-20T17:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com?p=1387"},"modified":"2005-04-20T12:33:55","modified_gmt":"2005-04-20T17:33:55","slug":"highfunda_food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2005\/04\/20\/highfunda_food\/","title":{"rendered":"High-funda food"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><P><IMG alt=\"\" hspace=20 src=\"http:\/\/www.sepiamutiny.com\/sepia\/CafeCoffeeDay.jpg\" align=right vspace=10 border=0>As if desis could get any more passionate about their <EM>comida,<\/EM> food diversity in India is <A href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2005\/04\/20\/dining\/20indi.html?ex=1271649600&#038;en=6a7c1c6a8f47e15e&#038;ei=5090&#038;partner=rssuserland&#038;emc=rss\">rising with income<\/A>&nbsp;(thanks, Rohit):<\/P>\n<BLOCKQUOTE>The amount spent nationally on meals outside the home has more than doubled in the past decade, to about $5 billion a year, and is expected to double again in about half that time&#8230; \n<P><\/P>\n<P>&#8220;In the 1970&#8217;s and 1980&#8217;s our international menu consisted of Russian salad, shrimp cocktail, French fries &#8230; oh, and something baked,&#8221; Mr. Desai said. &#8220;Recently, though, I had a conservative Hindu lady explain to me the specifics of a risotto she wants for her son&#8217;s wedding, and a traditional Bohri Muslim family requested Mongolian hot pots&#8230;&#8221;<\/P>\n<P>&#8220;When I first opened Diva people would send back al dente risotto because they were used to very soft cooked basmati rice&#8230;&#8221;<\/BLOCKQUOTE>\n<P>While I&#8217;m complaining about not getting <A href=\"http:\/\/web.foodnetwork.com\/food\/web\/encyclopedia\/termdetail\/0,7770,501,00.html\">arbi<\/A>, Bombayites were complaining about not getting Italian:<\/P>\n<BLOCKQUOTE>The legendary Crawford Market in Mumbai&#8230; sells broccoli, iceberg lettuce, thyme, basil, rosemary, bell peppers and other non-Indian vegetables. Pasta in bulk is available alongside basmati rice.<\/BLOCKQUOTE>\n<P>It&#8217;s all causing drama with the <A href=\"http:\/\/www.deccanherald.com\/deccanherald\/aug012004\/fp2.asp\">saas<\/A>:<\/P>\n<BLOCKQUOTE>&#8220;Much to my mother&#8217;s chagrin I use store-bought yogurt,&#8221; said Rujuta Jog, 24, a recently married office worker. &#8220;And my mother-in-law was upset when she saw that I use Pillsbury flour to make rotis. She still prefers to buy wheat and grind it fresh&#8230;&#8221; \n<P><\/P>\n<P>&#8220;In the old days, since only the men worked outside the home, they were served first,&#8221; said Sathya Saran, a senior executive at Worldwide Media, one of India&#8217;s largest publishing companies. &#8220;Now everyone eats together, and the entire family dynamic has begun to shift.&#8221;<\/BLOCKQUOTE>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n\n<p><P>They&#8217;re quickly picking up the worst of the West, chhi!<\/P>\n<BLOCKQUOTE>&#8230;&nbsp;a celebrity chef whose cooking show, &#8220;Khana Khazana&#8221; (&#8220;Food Treasures&#8221;), is the longest-running program on Indian television, has an infomercial promoting the Sanjeev Kapoor Tandoor&#8230;<\/BLOCKQUOTE>\n<P>The story makes an inept comparison, Coffee Day is more like Starbucks than Dunkin&#8217; Donuts:<\/P>\n<BLOCKQUOTE>Ms. Jog&#8217;s husband, Vivek, a computer sales executive, brought back an appreciation for American coffee culture when he returned from a stint working in Boston for Intel. Cafe Coffee Day, India&#8217;s answer to Dunkin&#8217; Donuts, was ready for him&#8230;<\/BLOCKQUOTE>\n<P>One import I&#8217;d love to see is achar tasting, India&#8217;s answer to <A href=\"http:\/\/sfgate.com\/cgi-bin\/article.cgi?f=\/c\/a\/2004\/11\/11\/WIGAL9MSSC1.DTL\">automated wine bars<\/A>:<\/P>\n<BLOCKQUOTE>&#8220;In one local mall in Mumbai an eatery geared toward the Indian Gujarati middle class even offers a pickle tasting bar&#8230;&#8221;<\/BLOCKQUOTE>\n<P>Aaand&#8230; now I&#8217;m hungry. Off to make myself some <A href=\"http:\/\/www.sepiamutiny.com\/sepia\/archives\/001055.html\">masala tortelloni<\/A>.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As if desis could get any more passionate about their comida, food diversity in India is rising with income&nbsp;(thanks, Rohit): The amount spent nationally on meals outside the home has more than doubled in the past decade, to about $5 &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2005\/04\/20\/highfunda_food\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}