This was around the 2010. It was about six to seven years since we migrated to New Mumbai - it was a new city, but it was a nice place. Not heavily cramped like Old Mumbai, fresh air, lots of greenery and poor and rich neighbourhoods weren’t seperated. We could only afford eating restaurant food once in a month. I was around 8 to 9 years old. As a lower-class Indian family, eating “American junk” was considered bourgie and posh during those days. When I mean lower-class, I’m talking about having no home appliances, like fridge, washing machine, A.C. or any of those stuff. Just a bunch of sleeping-mats, utensils and an old CRT T.V.
It so happened that during those days, Domino’s also started advertising their tacos. As kids, me and my sibling were fascinated by this American, “white-people” food. That day, we were supposed to eat some tandoori tikka chicken, roti and non-veg biriyani. We threw a tantrum, asking my dad to buy one of those new taco product - one of those boxes had two “large” tacos. Well, we ordered it.
And lo, behold, the delivery guy brings in the “American delight”. Well, at first, we were caught a little off-guard, because the box was tiny. Must be just our imagination , we thought. So my dad asks the delivery guy if that was the right order. He gives a weird look and leaves. So, we go running to the basin, wash our hands, and come back prancing. Open the box, and to our horror, we see two tiny, itty-bitty macron-sized tacos (never saw a macron in person, but I’m assuming it must be pretty small). And the taste? It felt like eating wall-paint flakes.
We ate one of those tacos, and my dad asks if we’re still hungry. Well, we did not complain. That day, both mom and dad slept hungry. ₹110 for a bunch of American crap, and we could have enjoyed a hearty Punjabi cuisine.
It was also after I started browsing over the internet, that I realised that fast-food restaurants target peasants and wage-slaves in their own land, and ironically, they sell it over here as if one of the many thousand gods kissed the dough while kneading.
Didn’t order their pizzas using my own money, but when I had the chance to visit my rich classmate’s birthday party, they would bring it, and it tasted like paperboard. This is a story for another time, but what basically happened was that I got a chance to visit a culinary school somewhere in Panvel, and the first-year guy over there made the best, Indi-Italian fusion pizza and pasta. Yes, we didn’t get a large slice, just a few bites, because it was a school trip, and there were a lot of students. But that was the best Italian dish I’ve experienced in my life.
Moral of the story: Fuck Domino’s and every other fast food restaurants except KFC.
I feel like Punjabi cuisine is over-represented in the west, especially the first one. Almost every “Trying out Indian dish” video is Eastern Punjabi stuff, there’s hardly any Pakistani or alt-North Indian stuff. Not saying that it is bad, but that’s kind of like eating greasy American stuff - eating donuts and cheeseburgers once in a while is fine, but too much is just not good from a health-perspective.
What’s sad is that you folks haven’t tried Marathi dishes - I had the privilege of visiting Satara and Lonavla, which are two amazing places in Maharashtra, which is extremely under-rated - surprisingly, it is also very much under-represented in Mumbai, perhaps due to the influx of North Indian migrants. Yes, most of it is spicy, even by Indian standards, but they’re amazing. Especially Srikhand and Sabudana Khicdhi (sabudana pearls are made of tapioca, but they’re transparent-coloured, instead of being black like boba pearls). I’d also give a thumbs up to Konkani, Malabari and also (our) Mangalorean cuisine - my favourite being the Udupi-style Masala Dosae paired with Bringal-Moringa Sambar, and also the classic Sheera-Upma combo.
I feel you, variety is the spice of life (but that’s only after a vicious battle against cumin that could have gone either way).
That sounds awesome, I’m on the Wikipedia pages for a couple of those rn and you’re spot on. Nothing like it around me, but there is a Pakistani place that does Charsi Karahi with goat and it’s “viable contender for last meal” tier.
I need to learn how to make some Marathi food, when you said “spicy by Indian standards” you convinced me lol.
Thank you for sharing all this information and stuff. Not what I expected from a pizza shitpost.
Lore time:
This was around the 2010. It was about six to seven years since we migrated to New Mumbai - it was a new city, but it was a nice place. Not heavily cramped like Old Mumbai, fresh air, lots of greenery and poor and rich neighbourhoods weren’t seperated. We could only afford eating restaurant food once in a month. I was around 8 to 9 years old. As a lower-class Indian family, eating “American junk” was considered bourgie and posh during those days. When I mean lower-class, I’m talking about having no home appliances, like fridge, washing machine, A.C. or any of those stuff. Just a bunch of sleeping-mats, utensils and an old CRT T.V.
It so happened that during those days, Domino’s also started advertising their tacos. As kids, me and my sibling were fascinated by this American, “white-people” food. That day, we were supposed to eat some tandoori tikka chicken, roti and non-veg biriyani. We threw a tantrum, asking my dad to buy one of those new taco product - one of those boxes had two “large” tacos. Well, we ordered it.
And lo, behold, the delivery guy brings in the “American delight”. Well, at first, we were caught a little off-guard, because the box was tiny. Must be just our imagination , we thought. So my dad asks the delivery guy if that was the right order. He gives a weird look and leaves. So, we go running to the basin, wash our hands, and come back prancing. Open the box, and to our horror, we see two tiny, itty-bitty macron-sized tacos (never saw a macron in person, but I’m assuming it must be pretty small). And the taste? It felt like eating wall-paint flakes.
We ate one of those tacos, and my dad asks if we’re still hungry. Well, we did not complain. That day, both mom and dad slept hungry. ₹110 for a bunch of American crap, and we could have enjoyed a hearty Punjabi cuisine.
It was also after I started browsing over the internet, that I realised that fast-food restaurants target peasants and wage-slaves in their own land, and ironically, they sell it over here as if one of the many thousand gods kissed the dough while kneading.
Didn’t order their pizzas using my own money, but when I had the chance to visit my rich classmate’s birthday party, they would bring it, and it tasted like paperboard. This is a story for another time, but what basically happened was that I got a chance to visit a culinary school somewhere in Panvel, and the first-year guy over there made the best, Indi-Italian fusion pizza and pasta. Yes, we didn’t get a large slice, just a few bites, because it was a school trip, and there were a lot of students. But that was the best Italian dish I’ve experienced in my life.
Moral of the story: Fuck Domino’s and every other fast food restaurants except KFC.
Memes aside, Punjabi food is definitely in the top tier when it comes to styles of Indian food (and Indian food is top tier already).
I feel like Punjabi cuisine is over-represented in the west, especially the first one. Almost every “Trying out Indian dish” video is Eastern Punjabi stuff, there’s hardly any Pakistani or alt-North Indian stuff. Not saying that it is bad, but that’s kind of like eating greasy American stuff - eating donuts and cheeseburgers once in a while is fine, but too much is just not good from a health-perspective.
What’s sad is that you folks haven’t tried Marathi dishes - I had the privilege of visiting Satara and Lonavla, which are two amazing places in Maharashtra, which is extremely under-rated - surprisingly, it is also very much under-represented in Mumbai, perhaps due to the influx of North Indian migrants. Yes, most of it is spicy, even by Indian standards, but they’re amazing. Especially Srikhand and Sabudana Khicdhi (sabudana pearls are made of tapioca, but they’re transparent-coloured, instead of being black like boba pearls). I’d also give a thumbs up to Konkani, Malabari and also (our) Mangalorean cuisine - my favourite being the Udupi-style Masala Dosae paired with Bringal-Moringa Sambar, and also the classic Sheera-Upma combo.
I feel you, variety is the spice of life (but that’s only after a vicious battle against cumin that could have gone either way).
That sounds awesome, I’m on the Wikipedia pages for a couple of those rn and you’re spot on. Nothing like it around me, but there is a Pakistani place that does Charsi Karahi with goat and it’s “viable contender for last meal” tier.
I need to learn how to make some Marathi food, when you said “spicy by Indian standards” you convinced me lol.
Thank you for sharing all this information and stuff. Not what I expected from a pizza shitpost.