TRIED AND TASTED

Food walks across the country, from Madurai to Dehradun, are linking history, culture and cuisine, bringing down barriers and breaking stereotypes. Often, the takers are locals wanting to know more

“We have three kinds of food walkers in our country: Foreign, local and hyper-local. Among these, the hyper-locals are the most difficult to please,” says Kurush Dalal, an archaeologist and culinary anthropologist.

In India, where every city and town has a different food culture, food walks have become an important and increasingly popular part of the tourism culture.

In Kolkata, you can trace, in what you eat, the influences of British, Portuguese and Chinese cultures on the city’s khau gallis or food lanes. In Delhi, you can go off the beaten track with a walk that takes you through an Afghan refugee colony that’s only about 30 years old.

In Madurai, it leads you to idlis ‘as soft as a jasmine blossom’.

A good food walk links history, culture and cuisine, tracing the roots of the local community, as well as the influences that have shaped it in recent times. It’s about breaking stereotypes — one reason there are vegetarian highlights in Old Delhi, and in Kolkata.

“Once in Puducherry, I saw a Tamilian man in a veshti and tilak, buying a wedge of strong cheese and a baguette. That really broke a stereotype for me,” says Pritha Sen, a food researcher and historian.

Sen adds that a major shift has come in recent years, driven by social media. “There, people are always posting about food and travel, so there is a need to post something different. Even before they ask people what to see, they ask about what and where to eat,” she says.

“This is helping them discover more cuisines, and through food, experience more of the culture. I think an important next step would be food walks for children, so this exposure can start early.”

It’s a way to meet real people, adds Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal, a food writer and consultant, and recognise what you have in common as well as the interesting ways in which your cultures are different.

On the Khaki Tours food walk in Bhendi Bazaar, Mumbai, stops include the mausoleum of the Syednas, the spiritual head of the Bohri community, as well as streetside eateries serving up everything from tiranga kebabs to patrel biryani, where colocasia leaves are coated with masala, slow-cooked and layered with tender meat.

▪ In old Bhopal, the walk starts at the Taj-ulMasjid, the country’s largest mosque.(Below left) As with the saltysweet breakfast of poha-jalebi, Bhopal’s special falahar is also a mix of sweet and savoury, from sabudana chivda and mawa jalebi to besan laddoo and balushahi.