FOOD! And more specifically, STREET FOOD!So I've been eating pretty well here. Our cook, Robi, used to work in the kitchen of the Centaur Hotel in Mumbai, a pretty swanky place. His time there really shows--I've never seen someone julienne and chiffonade vegetables so perfectly (sorry dad). His knowledge of soup recipes seems endless,
which is great for me. His specialties are Chinese and Thai food, although he is of course an excellent maker of Bangladeshi cuisine.
Bangladeshi food is pretty much what you would expect--a twist on Indian food. Rice is the staple starch, with bread being considered a lower-status food. Meat is a bigger part of the diet than in Hindu India (fortunately) but pork is still verboten (unfortunately for bacon-loving me). Fish and shrimp are also popular proteins because of the coastal location. Dahl (lentils) is served with every meal but seems to come in only one color/flavor: yellow, with extra garlic. Chai (tea) is served anywhere, anytime, and with anything.
Driving around Dhaka you see signs for "fast food" everywhere. Fast food here includes typical Bangladeshi snacks or quick meals, as well as fried chicken (bizarrely popular here), sandwiches and burgers--halal of course. In our foreigner-heavy neighborhood there are also a Pizza Hut, a gigantic A&W, and a KFC which touts its peri-peri, a sauce characteristic of west African cooking--a unique melding of cultures and palates. We've also got decent Korean, Japanese, Italian, Thai, Chinese, and Mexican restaurants around.
But all of this pales in comparison to the delicious treats to be found on the streets and back alleys of Dhaka. Fried treats of every kind abound: deep fried potatoes, deep fried vegetables, super greasy samosas-- all delicious when they are served piping hot on an oil-soaked tissue.
There are plays on classic Indian street foods, including one of my all-time favorite foods, pani puri. In the Indian version, the paper-thin, crunchy, hollow shell (the puri) is filled, street-side, with tiny diced potatoes/chickpeas/lentils, a sweet sauce, and then filled with a spicy water (the pani). Obviously, filling a paper-thin container with liquid is a recipe for disaster, so you have to stuff the whole thing in your mouth as fast as possible after receiving it from the grimy hand of the vendor. Delicious. Amazing. Unforgettable.
In the Bangladeshi version, most of the excitement of pani puri is gone. The ratio of solid food to liquid is reversed, so the potatoes/chickpeas/lentils comprise the majority of the stuffing and thus absorb all the pani. Not as thrilling to eat, but still quite tasty. And the grimy hand part is still the same, so the authenticity remains.
And this being the developing world, there is, of course, my ultimate favorite food item- grilled meat on a stick. Here it is usually goat (which tastes better than one might think) or beef. Smoky, spicy, and salty, these kabobs can be found anywhere and everywhere, which suits me just fine. A good day in my book is defined as "ten meat sticks, ten pani puris, and ten deep fried vegetable balls." That's quite the well rounded diet.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the downsides of street food: the potential for traveler's diarrhea, amoebic dysentery, giardiasis, gastric ulcers and the like. But as someone who has contracted not one but two gastric ulcers from delicious, delicious street food, I think that when you do the cost-benefit analysis, you'll decide that the joy that comes from eating such wonderful food greatly exceeds the the trouble of having to buy toilet paper in bulk.....
There are plays on classic Indian street foods, including one of my all-time favorite foods, pani puri. In the Indian version, the paper-thin, crunchy, hollow shell (the puri) is filled, street-side, with tiny diced potatoes/chickpeas/lentils, a sweet sauce, and then filled with a spicy water (the pani). Obviously, filling a paper-thin container with liquid is a recipe for disaster, so you have to stuff the whole thing in your mouth as fast as possible after receiving it from the grimy hand of the vendor. Delicious. Amazing. Unforgettable.
In the Bangladeshi version, most of the excitement of pani puri is gone. The ratio of solid food to liquid is reversed, so the potatoes/chickpeas/lentils comprise the majority of the stuffing and thus absorb all the pani. Not as thrilling to eat, but still quite tasty. And the grimy hand part is still the same, so the authenticity remains.
And this being the developing world, there is, of course, my ultimate favorite food item- grilled meat on a stick. Here it is usually goat (which tastes better than one might think) or beef. Smoky, spicy, and salty, these kabobs can be found anywhere and everywhere, which suits me just fine. A good day in my book is defined as "ten meat sticks, ten pani puris, and ten deep fried vegetable balls." That's quite the well rounded diet.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the downsides of street food: the potential for traveler's diarrhea, amoebic dysentery, giardiasis, gastric ulcers and the like. But as someone who has contracted not one but two gastric ulcers from delicious, delicious street food, I think that when you do the cost-benefit analysis, you'll decide that the joy that comes from eating such wonderful food greatly exceeds the the trouble of having to buy toilet paper in bulk.....
No comments:
Post a Comment