Food, sometimes, is not just about food. Sometimes its about the stories behind food and once in a while the story is as big as the food. Here is one such story. Its just story, no food was harmed in the process… I didn’t know very much about Ambala, but I had the vague idea... Continue Reading →
I was up in the hills drinking in the scenery, but of course food needed to be on the agenda too.Himachal Pradesh, the land of apples and mushrooms, is a dramatically beautiful state. After a few hours of the flat Punjab plains, twisty roads started spiralling into the heavens pretty much from the instant we... Continue Reading →
Recently, an article in the New York Times made the somewhat surprising claim that “goat is the most widely consumed meat in the world”. Now I’m the first one to go drooling after some top-class mutton, but given how difficult it is to get the goat on menus around the world, this was a somewhat... Continue Reading →
Himachal Pradesh offers stunning views, pretty much from the instant you cross the border at Parwanoo and start your twisty way up into the Shivaliks. Every twist and turn brings new vistas and the temptation to stop and stare, but man does not live by scenery alone. Food, as in much of India, was pretty... Continue Reading →
A McDonald has finally opened below my office, and it set me thinking about how nothing quite defines the American food experience as much as a hamburger. Indeed, some say that's the only thing American about food. I grew up thinking burgers to be a snack, but Americans seem to chomp it down for breakfast,... Continue Reading →
Kolkata, I discovered on my last trip, is full of Bengali food. No, I'm not an idiot. Till not so long ago, Bengali wasn't on the menu if you wanted to eat out in Kolkata. Chinese they did, Continental they kind of did, Italian, Punjabi, South Indian all check but Bengali; there you had to... Continue Reading →
I cycled a hundred kilometres for Mumbai's most famous vada pao. Thats a bit of an exaggeration, I admit. Not the cycling, the fame of the vada pao. I discovered two crucial things on reaching Panvel - one, the McDonalds is not actually in Panvel (its nearly 4km before Panvel) and two, that watermelons are... Continue Reading →
Most of Bengal's famous sweets come from Kolkata, but some particular ones have the names of other places attached to them.. Many of these places remain off the map for all but a small number of people who lived or went through those places. Shaktigarh, whose reputation rests on the langcha - is one such... Continue Reading →
So I finally had it. Fugu Sashimi, the deadliest food known to mankind. Fugu, the Japanese name for the much-discussed, much-poisonous puffer fish, actually does puff up - it can in fact become a nearly spherical ball of a fish by filling itself with air or water. Its quite a dramatic looker, and quite the... Continue Reading →
Every time I've stayed in Goa I've always been surprised that the breafast buffet spread ignores goan altogether. There's your aloo-paratha, your dosa-idli, your frenchtoast-pancake, even exotica like swiss muesli or chinese porridge but anything is local a rarity. Goans, it would seem, don't wake for breakfast. The Lemontree, as expected, offered us a bland,... Continue Reading →
The Well Fed Bong 