Street food is said to be the hallmark of cities and countries. Indian street food has always been known for its unique flavors. But in recent years, foodies have experimented with more and more unusual combinations of ingredients as vloggers and social media influencers look for foods and places to go viral and grow their fan following.
Freelance journalist Om Rautre reports on this unusual phenomenon.
Vijay Shukla, owner of the shop at Odeon Shukla Paan Palace in the heart of Delhi, does his job with lightning speed, even putting the paan into the customer’s mouth with the same speed. Customers line up in front of Shukla’s Paan Palace with their mouths open and their eyes closed.
Paan, lime in betel leaves, rose leaf jam or paan infused with flavors of gulkand, cardamom, cloves and multhi have been attracting people from South Asia for centuries.
Shukla’s paan shop has been a paan hub in the Indian capital for 75 years, but it shot to fame eight years ago when it introduced ‘fire paan’ to its customers.
This is the fourth generation or generation of Shukla Sahib to be involved in this business, and Shukla skillfully folds the ingredients into the leaf and pours this pile of ingredients into the mouths of the customers burning on a betel leaf.
When this fire paan was first introduced, hundreds of videos of the paan were uploaded on social media, in which consumers were seen giving the camera a ‘thumbs up’ sign of excellence after eating it.
Since then, Indians, and most of the world, have seen a flood of videos of similar accidental and experimental street foods from India, like fanta maggi (noodles made with orange soda) and oreo pakodas (batter). from fried Oreo cookies) to clayd pizza (pizza prepared in a clay cup).
Street food has always been an integral part of Indian cuisine. The talk starts with breakfast and more than one breakfast item comes up. Lunch stalls outside offices and factories serve cheap meals aimed at satisfying a diverse workforce. In the evening, the carriages serve a variety of delicacies to families and friends.
It is also nothing new for experiments. Anil Molchandani, a writer and food critic from the Indian state of Ahmedabad, says that in 1975, Jasobin Pizza, now a hit in Gujarat, added a spicy sauce and grated raw cheese to its pizzas. .
Around the same time, in the city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), shopkeepers began serving fried goat brain delicacies and serving king-size rolls.
“Some cities like Ahmedabad are known to be adventurous with food, mostly because of the entrepreneurial spirit of vendors and customers who are willing to try new combinations,” says Mr Molchandani.
But for a long time these innovations were confined to certain parts of the country.
Everything changed with the advent of viral videos and social media trends, experiments became more common and many people started trying extreme combinations that stand out.
Surprising styles and new methods helped these dishes go viral.
In fact, many strange dishes or food items encountered by accident often have the same goal and that is to become popular on the Internet and attract new customers.
Such food videos also have a lifespan, i.e. how long they last on social media. A recently viral video shows making ice cream with ‘gutke’, chewing tobacco is used in this ice cream.
The video was picked up and aired by several other bloggers and even mainstream news channels. But no one could trace or reach the vendor who made this dish.
Although not all street food is visible to the eye of the camera and has no other purpose, some people bring something to the market just to run their business.
At Bipin Big Sandwiches in Mumbai city you are offered more than 50 varieties of sandwiches. The most famous sandwich among them is called ‘Baahubali’, named after the Indian historical fantasy film that did great business at the box office across the country in 2015.
The sandwich is made of four large slices of double bread that are prepared with butter, green sauce and other condiments, baby corn flakes, ginger, garlic paste, fruit jam, pineapple chunks, jalapeño, olives, onion, capsicum. , mayonnaise, grated cheese, tomato, grated cabbage and beetroot along with other spices are used in its preparation.
The range of ingredients pushes the price of the sandwich up to 400 rupees ($4.8, 3.78 pounds), at least four times more than other sandwiches.
Bhavesh, the owner of the place, says the popularity of the sandwich has nothing to do with viral food trends, crediting his success to his ‘effort, hard work and creativity’.
“Many other food stalls offer similar sandwiches but I don’t care,” he adds. Everyone brings their own luck and talent to the business and takes home what the boss gives them.’
However, others say that consciously designed trends are now an integral part of the food business.
Mumbai-based food vlogger Abhay Sharma, who runs Bombay Food Tales, says he often gets requests from vendors to make viral videos for him.
He said that such partnerships are not rare. This often happens when vloggers force vendors to create something unusual for their cameras. Vendors also ask us to come up with concepts that can go viral.
“Vendors, content creators and customers have contributed equally to these trends,” says Anubhu Supra, founder of food tour group Delhi Food Walk.
“There is a segment of people for whom street food is no longer about sustenance, playwrights appeal to them,” she adds.
This type of partnership between public relations and customer outreach is well established in the formal dining space, but there are still no clear rules for street food.
“Street food stall holders have become amateur chefs,” says Supra.
Although news sites and social media platforms increase their reach, the outcome for street food sellers has not always been positive.
A food stall owner in Kolkata had to close shop after a food blogger showed off his rum-filled golgappe (panipuri filled with potatoes and chutney) on his social media channels. Authorities tracked down the shopkeeper and revoked his license because he did not have a permit to serve alcohol.
As the drama surrounding the food and its viral videos change food culture, experts also wonder if it can replace authentic street food.
Supra says that ‘what will happen to such items offered in the streets if they are banned because they are the hallmark of any region and city.’
Other experts also believe that these viral trends will have an impact on the heritage of Indian street food.