Three Tips to Travelers for Getting the Most Out of Local Food

My experiences in India would definitely have been less enjoyable if this place didn’t have great food across the country. I am a food lover and Indian food has always been one of my favourites. India is a very diverse nation in terms of culture, religion, language etc. and the same holds true for the food they eat across the country.

When I first arrived in Hubli-Dharwad, I didn’t know there was so much the place had to offer. In the back of my mind, I had always thought I was going to spend a year in a small town in Southern India and get disconnected with the luxuries and food I was used to in the US. But my assumptions were proven wrong soon, especially when it came to food. I found out that there were a few stores in the area where one could get almost anything needed to prepare non-Indian food  – brown bread, peanut butter, olive oil, vinegar, black olives, pickles, cereals, soy milk, cheese, wheat pasta, pasta sauce, chocolate, sausages, canned food like tuna, salmon etc. We now have a good relationship with the shopkeepers who not only sell western food items in their stores but will also, at our request, procure food products they don’t normally carry from Bangalore. Also, we found out that our options for food were even greater if we were willing to do some travelling. Occasional trips to Bangalore exposed us to the availability of a variety of non-Indian food there: we have enjoyed the sushi buffet at Shiro, American food at the Hard Rock Café and TGI Fridays and western breakfast buffet (serving bacon, pancakes, sausages, hash brown, etc.) at one of the five stars hotels for a reasonable price. Despite these options, I eat Indian food here on a regular basis and I don’t find it inconvenient that Indian food is more readily available than non-Indian food.

One reason for this could be that I have always been fond of Indian food and for me, getting the opportunity to enjoy authentic Indian cooking, either at local restaurants and hotels or at the homes of local colleagues and friends, on a regular basis has a charm of its own. I have encountered a wide variety of Indian food here in Hubli-Dharwad and in other parts of the country while travelling. However, my favorites among all have always been spicy chicken tandoori (grilled chicken marinated in yogurt and seasoned with tandoori masala) for a non-vegetarian item, chana masala (chick peas dish popular in North India) for a vegetarian item, garlic naan roti (leavened, oven-baked flatbread with garlic cooked in a tandoor) among breads, dal makhani (Punjab’s characteristic signature dish made out of lentils and spices) and mango lassi (a mango- yogurt based drink) among all drinks.

There’s no doubt that people all over the world enjoy Indian food.  However, there are three secrets (in my opinion) to enjoying Indian food in India besides just the taste of the food itself: a) Eating with your bare hands -the satisfaction level is always higher b) Eating in ‘Dhaabas’, which are local roadside restaurants that serve specialties of specific regions like Punjab, Rajasthan etc. and c) Eating in a group. If you are a foreigner travelling in India, do follow these three mantras to make your trip more exciting. It will spice up your memory of the trip!