When it comes to eating and feasting, Indians go vocal for local

Regional tastes, local flavours and grandma's recipes draw food lovers to restaurants

Children’s book author Rajani LaRocca describes kesari bhath, Karnataka’s harvest festival dish, this way: “It was the perfect combination of sweet and savory, smooth and gritty, fragrant and the tiniest bit bitter. It tasted like home.”

"It was made with semolina, sugar, milk, and ghee, flavored with saffron and cardamom, and studded with raisins and cashews. I tasted a spoonful of the thick, golden pudding. It was perfect,” says a character in 'Midsummer's Mayhem', LaRocca’s book about a young Indian American girl’s discovery of food.

Like that child, Indians are returning to regional tastes, local flavours and grandma’s recipes. “One thing was certain at least ten years back in Delhi and North India: that anything with coconut would not work. It was a strict no but now it is being accepted. People are looking at experimenting with what they eat,” says Harpal Singh Sokhi, who runs the Karigari brand in Delhi NCR.

The lounge bar at his restaurant in Delhi serves appams, a South Indian staple, which customers love. Another bestseller at the restaurant is his mother’s recipe of traditional masoor dal ki roti, and peethi wali roti, which is the stuffing of dal ki wadi into roti.

“People in North India are very open to trying elements of South Indian and Bihari cuisine. In Chennai, when people go to restaurants, they go for something beyond the usual. For example I find that in Chennai, people would love some butter chicken, some shahi paneer, some out of the box biryanis, and not their typical short-grained biryani but the long-grained perfumed biryani from Lucknow,” says Sokhi.

"This cross-cultural thing and love for regional cuisine is something that I have been experiencing in my restaurants and it’s a good trend.”

Going regional

India’s vastness offers food lovers a variety of choices. “For a long time I thought mustard oil was a dirty word and only refined was good and olive oil is best. But ever since I embraced Bihari cuisine and even Bengali cuisine, I love the taste of raw mustard oil in the dishes just as I like dipping my breads into virgin olive oil. We Indians have been distant from our very own legacy of regional cuisine but now are reclaiming our roots and food is no exception,” says Jyotika Sahai, a 32-year-old human resources professional in Mumbai. 

Indian food is gaining ground unapologetically, says Chintan Pandya, a chef who runs the Dhamaka restaurant in New York. “Unapologetic to us means the food that all of us have grown up (on) and enjoyed eating--meat and seafood on bone and nothing boneless. Spice as we like it and not dumbed down to please. Eating with your hands and not to be scared of what people will make out of it. All this and many more are examples of being unapologetic.”

Pandya and his business partner Roni Mazumdar toured India in association with Masters of Marriott Bonvoy and Culinary Culture. “In most of the US, there is an Americanised version of Indian cuisine being served. This comprises a generic version that mixes Mughlai and Punjabi cuisines but doing none of which with utmost integrity,” says Mazumdar.

About his India tour, Mazumdar says, “We are looking into regions that are often overlooked even within India like Meghalaya, Bihar, Orissa, etc. and our best sellers happen to be from these regions like Doh Khleh, Champaran Mutton, Chhena Poda.”

That time is long ago when regional food meant Maharashtra’s pav bhaji or idli-sambhar from Tamil Nadu. Now regional penetrates far deeper as Indians travel for food. Anita Ghai, 65, recently went to Lansdowne and ate Kafuli, which is made of spinach and fenugreek leaves cooked together in an iron pot, after which salt and spices are added to accentuate its flavour. The gravy for Kafuli is prepared by making a paste made out of rice or wheat and adding water to it. 

Region-themed restaurants are booming. Delhi has Bihari cuisine restaurant Potbelly; Bagundi serves Andhra food, and Juggernaut is a South Indian restaurant.

Paati Veedu in Chennai has recipes that were forgotten over time after once being part of every Tamil grandmother's kitchen. The restaurant’s 25-course Poorna Bhakshana (meal) has 12 varieties of rasam and a roster of dishes such as puliyodharai with capsicum pachadi, which is tamarind rice with bell pepper yoghurt relish, idiyappam and sodhi.

The Salt House in Kolkata pays tribute to the flavours of Bengal with khichuri and bhaaja, and mishti doi. In Gurugram, a restaurant called Bhawan celebrates local Indian recipes such as golgappas, chaats to crisp prawns marinated in yummy Goan spices and aromatic coconut.

Taj Palace, the five-star hotel in Delhi, recently launched Loya, a restaurant that brings together cuisines from the Himalayas, Punjab, and Kashmir.

“Guests today are well travelled and understand the complexity of Indian cuisine. They are welcoming to regional food and like to experience it in its full flavour. The enthusiasm we see in our guests at Loya encourages us to provide an unparalleled experience every day. Guests are inquisitive about regions, history, music, preparations techniques," says Taljinder Singh, senior vice president and brand custodian of Indian Hotels Company Ltd, which operates the Taj Hotels.