This article comes from the WeChat public account:Nine lines (ID: jiuxing_neweekly), author: old artist, title figure from: YouTube screenshot
Recently, our street vendor economy is in full swing, but in South Asia on the other side, there are several happy and some worried.
It is estimated that there are more than 10 million street vendors in India, 30% of which sell street food, but since the epidemic, most of the food stalls have been on the verge of bankruptcy.
△According to requirements, Indian hawkers must be trained in the “Covid-19 Food Safety Guidelines” before they can reopen. Currently, about 1,500 snack vendors have obtained certificates. /Mohan Singh Varma
Without street food, Indians can’t do much.
Someone simply do it at home and eat well.
According to the Indian News Agency’s independent news agency IANS, Since the implementation of the lock-in, Google India’s Pani puri recipe search volume has increased by 107%.
△Do it at home Pani puri
Mumbai journalist Karishma Upadhya has a distorted face, struggling to recall the taste of Pani puri on the street:
“Only when you taste the taste of instinct, will you be at ease with everything around you. Just like when you eat Pani puri in one bite, the icy, sweet, sour and crisp taste rises to the tip of your tongue, wow, it’s almost Great.”
△Indian Destiny, Pani puri
The Indian obsession with street food has grown to “three meals a day.”
The Nielsen Global Snack Survey shows that 67% of Indians use street snacks instead of breakfast, and 56% of Indians occasionally eat directly as lunch and dinner.
However, this is a street food for Indians, but for foreigners, it is a kind of existence that requires life to challenge.
If you are going to India, don’t miss street food.
Indian snacks, I choose to admit defeat
If you want to taste the sweetness, bitterness and bitterness of life all at once, I suggest you to eat Indian snacks.
Not only can you get an instant insight, but also develop a second skill.
No, when Australian Charmaine O’Brien tried the first bite of Indian snack papdi 15 years ago (a round crispy pancake)When the whole view of life was shattered:
“How can there be such indescribable food in this world?”
△I seem to hear him say: “oh my god”
Spicy, salty, sweet, crispy, and sour, all exploded in the mouth. He immediately decided to write a book devoted to various states of India, about the variety of street food in the country.
A true warrior who dares to taste Indian snacks.
In India, the weather is hot. In summer, the temperature is even lower to 40℃. For the convenience of food storage, most street vendors in India choose to throw the starch into the oil pan and fry it.
△I am just a deep-fried snack without emotion
But if you want to make a richer taste than the Himalayas, you have to rely on spices to make it up-Masala (Masala).
When you are on the streets of India, you find that a foreigner eats brows and wrinkles, and has been attacked by the smell of the upper throat, and his throat is tight and speechless. It is likely that Masala played a role.
This is a mysterious seasoning, the shape can be paste or soup or granules, the taste can be sour and sweet, spicy or salty, the ingredients can also be garlic, ginger, onion, fennel, pepper, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, mint Ye et al…
△ Wonderful Masala, come on?
Liu Yong, a well-known domestic food blogger and Indian snack pioneer, described it as an “instant noodle seasoning bag”. Of course, this is for reference only.
More exciting(Desperate)Masala is added to 90% of Indian snacks.
In their eyes, everything can be “Masala”: fried snacks, donuts, fruits, radishes…
People who really know how to eat have to buy a glass of lemonade on the streets of India, and they have to add two spoons of Masala to inject a wonderful soul into this glass of water.
△Everyone who knows how to eat even has water in Masala/Youtube
However, to eat the unique taste of Indian snacks, you must add the environment, hard hands and 99% of their sweat.
Indian snacks pay attention to the “unity of man and nature”. Only by achieving a subtle combination of man and nature can we open the heavenly lid and eat the taste of “epiphany”.
△ This hand-speed look is the practice of children
For example, snacks must use cow dung fuel.
At the end of last year, in order to reduce severe air pollution in the northeast, India announced a ban on the burning of cow dung and coal. As a result, thousands of hawkers in the area instantly cried and howled, pointing directly at “affecting livelihoods”.
This is no joke. According to the British “Guardian” report, Hawker Rai (Brij Bihari Rai) claims to be selling litti chokha(A fried wheat flour ball), must use cow dung in order to inspire a unique taste.
“Without the influence of cow dung, smoke and ashes, what else are you selling, and the taste is gone.”
△ burn it, cow dung
Sometimes they will use Ganges water to help food.
For example, the big pot boiled Henghe milk tea, Henghe yogurt. A cup of Ganges water, which may carry a variety of micro-organisms, is the most local anti-counterfeiting mark of the local hawker. Shake and pull the tea and pour it into the pottery cup to complete a cup of “tea of life”.
Fortunately, milk tea is boiled.
△ Authentic Ganga Lacha, taste it after eating it
Moreover, they are well versed in the principle of working hard with “industrious hands”. Generally, those who can get started can never use tools, which makes people mistakenly believe that all Indians are practicing the “iron sand palm” magic on the street.
The hot sun evaporates excess water for their bodies and adds flavor to the food.
△Explore sacs in hot hot oil, such as entering a land of no one
So, the old artist summed up a set of formulas for this:
Indian snacks(Chaat)=Fried + Masala + touching environment + hardworking hands + 99% sweat.
There is a saying, is this hygienic?
Presumably 99% of people looked at the stunned Indian snacks, and they all issued the ultimate question: Is this hygienic?
This is a good question, and countless people have succeeded.
In the tourism industry, there is another saying: “delhi belly” (Delly belly, commonly known as “skewered thin”), I am embarrassed to say that I have been to India.
△Delly belly refers to intestinal infections/medical dictionary caused by travelers not accustomed to local diet
Video blogger @Jerry Kowal, who has 520,000 followers on the tubing. I am Guo Jierui. I once did not believe in evil and challenged to eat Indian street snacks for two days without diarrhea.
The final ending can only be sighed.
△ Hey / Youtube
In fact, India also knows the safety and hygiene of its street food, and has made a lot of efforts to this end.
In India, this organization is called “Indian Food Safety and Standards Bureau (FSSAI)“, and has to shoulder millions of stalls nationwide For food safety, they also know that their responsibilities are significant.
In July 2018, the bureau announced the “Clean Street Food Center Plan”, which determined that 114 street food gathering places in India need to undergo regular health inspections. Those who meet the conditions will receive the “Clean Street Food Center Certificate”.
△ Certified Snack Street/outlook
On the other hand, they also began to pay attention to the training of street vendors.
For example, before handling food, you must wear a hat, use a mask and apron, trim your nails, wash your hands with soapy water, and avoid contact with your head, face, hair, or any part of the body.
However, personal hygiene habits cannot be changed overnight. Going to the stage and cheating on FSSAI, you still have to pick your feet.
According to statistics from the Public Health Association, only 53% of Indians wash their hands with soap after bowel movements, 38% do so before eating, and only 30% wash their hands before preparing food.
△Suffocation of Indians
So, is the snack made under such “inner taste” safe? The British “Guardian” once did such a test.
They told reporters to run to a roadside stall in Mumbai with huge traffic. Exhaust and dust flew along with the sound of cars. On the right is a busy train station and on the left is a bus station. There is a bus almost every 10 minutes The car passed.
The stall owner operates in an open-air environment without any protective measures (gloves, hats) and sweats.
△Many Indian food stalls are opened by the dusty roads
The reporter shook his hands and ordered a Pav-bhaji, cooked vegetables (bhaji) packed in a plastic bag, and bread (pav) is installed in local newspapers. Without stopping at all, he was sent to the laboratory.
After 7 days, the results are unexpected for everyone: the food samples meet the recommended safety limits and are suitable for consumption.
△Test Report/ “Guardian”
In the report, E. coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, etc. are not present, while yeast and mold are within the acceptable range. The researchers said: “This is close to the limit, but it has not crossed the line, so it is safe to eat.”
However, the Psa Hotel Management Institute (IHM) came to the opposite conclusion.
They collected samples from several stalls in central and western Delhi and found that the coliform bacteria in the food that caused diarrhea and intestinal discomfort actually exceeded the allowable limit by 48 times.
△Indian street food/BBC
In fact, it also has a lot to do with the type of snacks and the state of presentation.
In order to save lives, CNN released the “12 Guides to Safe Food in India” at the end of 2019, including:
Try to eat high-temperature fried and cooked snacks; avoid yogurt-based dishes; pay attention to the source of water; try not to use colorful soup; don’t eat sliced fruits; try to find more local stalls File (high turnover, fresh) etc…
So, try in IndiaThis kind of delicacy that can hit the soul directly on the street, besides closing their eyes and relying on luck, really needs some skills.
Why do Indians indulge in knowing that they are unhygienic?
If you want to send the above report to the Indians and persuade them to go back to the shore, it is very likely that you will only get a beating.
This is not only because they have already trained an iron Indian stomach, but also that “street snacks” are already a traditional culture for them.
On the foreign version of Quora, someone has asked a similar question:
△ Translated is: Why do Indians know that street food is unhygienic and still want to praise it? /Quora
To summarize the high praise answer, there are only two points: First, this is our culture; Second, this is the most accessible source of food for the poor.
Under the new crown epidemic, there have been concerns that India’s tea stall culture (India’s tapri chai culture) will soon disappear.
Aurul Kani, a social scientist based in Bangalore, India (Arul Kani) thinks:
“Compared to Americans and Europeans, Indians have a completely different concept of public places, and we have a food culture that eats and talks in the public areas and is accustomed to full voice.”
△Indians’ understanding of public places is vocal/BBC
And this culture may have originated in the middle of the 19th century.
British colonists built a lot of factories in Mumbai, India. Under the chimney smoke, the Indian workers began to work in reverse.
After the night shift, Indian workers are hungry and have no money to go to the restaurant, so street snacks came into being.
The remaining potatoes of the day, added with spices and accompanied by a paste, became the prototype of the food that the bottom people of India were able to wrap around.
△Cheap, crowded, it’s the best delicious food
Today, Indian street food still retains the same appearance as before: simple materials and cheap prices.
For example, the most popular national snack, Pani puri, is a deep-fried hollow ball stuffed with hummus and a spoonful of green soup. Asking price, there are 5 for 2 yuan.
In India, street foods are mostly surprisingly cheap: a dollar for Masala fruit, two dollars for chicken dumplings, two dollars for five fried noodles with big palms…
In this way, street food not only supports the stomachs of the poor in India, but also connects the atmosphere of people talking and chatting around them.
△ As long as you look carefully, there are still many cheap and large delicious dishes on the streets of India/Youtube
In spite of being a bit miserable abroad, Indians have to some extent regarded it as a cultural output.
Every winter, the Indian National Street Vendors Association (NASVI) will host a street food festival in Delhi (Street Food Festival), attracting approximately 40,000 visitors.
500 stalls from 20 states made locals feel: “I was shocked by a changing India that street food reflects to a great extent.”
△The Street Food Festival in India, because it is officially held, is also required to wear a hood to emphasize personal hygiene/India Chronicles
In fact, under the protection of the gastrointestinal tract, old artists feel that Indian street food is not impossible to try.
After all, there are not many opportunities to taste the five flavors of life.
This article comes from the WeChat public account:Nine lines (ID: jiuxing_neweekly), author: old artists