Food that tickles your taste buds

Indian ‘Zaika’

In a country like India where the taste and flavour changes with demography and cities, food has created a live journey in Indian history. India has a rich palate and its food shows the maximum variation just like its heritage. The street food in this country is often spicy and worth tasting. People of India and from abroad travel distances to tantalise their taste-buds with mouthful of Indian ‘zaika’.

Yum street food

When people talk about scrumptious street food, one cannot forget a wide variety of gastronomic delights that are available on the Indian streets at a reasonable price. Despite the mushrooming of lavish restaurants and food courts, foodies ranging from all economic strata take pleasure in trying out the road-side delicacies.

India has more than five million street vendors, who sell delicious regional and local cuisine. However, there have often been concerns about the manner in which street food is handled, cooked or stored.

According to a media report:  “The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is working with the National Association of Street Vendors in India (NASVI), an umbrella organization of tens of thousands of street vendors from 23 states, to train pavement chefs in hygiene and create eight safe street food zones in popular areas like Karolbagh, Chandni Chowk, Paharganj, Nizamuddin railway station, Sarojini Nagar and New Delhi railway station. Some vendors were also sent to the World Streetfood Congress in Singapore earlier this year to learn about hygiene and food safety.”

Let’s have a look at the delicious street foods those no one is embarrassed of picking up a quick bite while they are out.

Puchka (Gol gappe): Gol Gappe, also called Pani Puri is most demanded street food in India especially in North Indian states. The food is flavoured and spiced, water filled in varieties of forms with different stuffing which looks like a mini-balloons that bursts in to your mouth.

Vada Pav: Vada Pav or the Indian burger is becoming one of the most favourite fast foods among Indians, especially in Maharashtra from where it hails its origin. Made up of potato fritters and unsweetened bread the preparation is also known as batata vada in the capital of Maharashtra. This street food is becoming a hit in the country by the entrepreneur and restaurateur, Dheeraj Gupta, who started the famous restaurant chain Jumboking offering Vada Pav.

Dosa: Dosa is a common breakfast for most of the people. It is sort of pancake made from rice batter and black lentils. The fast food is not only found in India but is prevalent in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore as well. One of the best places to get tasty Dosa is Vidyarthi Bhavan at Basavanagudi in Bangalore.  According to a media report, once a mayor of London visited Vidyarthi Bhavan and liked its Dosa so much that he invited them to open a branch in London as well.

Kati Roll: A street food that originated in Kolkata has now become one of the most wanted fast foods among youngsters. The original form was Kati Kebab, in which kebab is enclosed in a paratha. This form underwent many variations and all forms are now sold under the name of Kati Roll. Nizam's Restaurant in New Market Area of Kolkata is the birthplace and the best place to get Kati Roll.

Kabab: Favourite of all non-vegetarian lovers, Kebabs are the innovation of Middle East that penetrated almost every household of India. It is traditionally made with sliced meat. The most well cooked kebabs are found in Tunday Kebabi on Naaz Cinema Road in Aminabad, Lucknow. It has a special family recipe passed down over generations for over 100 years.