Food!

Several times while in India I have had people ask me, “what are the differences you notice between the US and India?” This has got to be one of the most difficult questions. Besides EVERYTHING the US and India are very similar. It would take me a whole day to really explain all of the similarities and differences, but I am going to try my best to touch on some of the main things.

I’ll start with food because all of the activities you do in India revolve around food. You wake up and then you eat. You go to school, and the period you look forward to the most is break where you eat. After coming home from school you always eat a HUGE meal, and then after or during any activity there is always eating. Even after and during religious ceremonies you always have the holy fruit/trail mix or sweets, and often times after the ceremony you have a full out feast.

For the most part in India you eat Asian food, occasionally there will be India pasta (very sweet) or US pizza (last time I checked Italy was famous for it’s Pizza), but on a regular basis Indian food is eaten.

Breakfast: weekdays: biscuits, bread, and tea, masala, or just plain milk
Weekends: same, but with dhokra

Break (at school): often times I will have dhokra, pori, craker like things with seasoning,
Rotli and veggies, pakra, potato tasting things with onions and garlic, or whatever
Else ends up in my tiffin (metal lunch pail)

Lunch: rotli and curry, salad (onion and tomato), curried veggies, okra, always with rice
And dhal.

Tea Time: tea or Masala (milk with ginger root, tulsi leaves, green tea leaves, and tea
Masala, but without the actual tea mixture) Normally at this time I have a little
Cracker snack thing, biscuits, or a banana.

Dinner: This varies between huge and small meals. When my family is at home by
Themselves we eat a small meal of grilled sandwiches, noodles a lot like top
Ramen, omlets on occasion, or something cooked in a pressure cooker
Like Kitchree (very yummy seasoned rice) dumplings, or different kinds of rice .
Also we eat a lot of curried veggies and then dip bread in it (soo good)
If it is out of the house it is similar to lunch, but with more food and choices.

I have asked a lot of my school friends what there eating habits are, and it sounds quite similar to the eating habits of my family, but my family has Kitchree every Sunday as a tradition. Also most of my friends are pure veg, and don’t even eat eggs. If they are jain then they don’t eat much of anything that is eaten under the ground like garlic, onions, potatoes ect. When my family is just eating alone, everyone eats when they have time with maybe one or two people eating together. When the extended family and friends come the children eat first at the table, the men eat in another room, and the women cooking eat last.

Also something that is part of the Indian hospitality as well as food; whenever you go to someone’s house it is a kind of unsaid rule that you can’t leave until you have eaten something, or at the very least had a glass of water. I enjoy the hospitality, but if you go visiting to several peoples houses you become full in a hurry, and they always want you to eat more 