No More Street Food In Delhi?
Delhi will be hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and in preparation for the grand event, the Indian Government is trying to modernise the capital (and get rid of Delhi Belly) by shutting down the 300,000 food stalls that are ubiquitous on its streets. Why is this considered such a tragedy in the making?
On a teeming street corner in Chandni Chowk market, in Delhi, Dipankar Das deftly flips a paratha on to a metal plate and piles it high with steaming vegetable curry.
Next to him, another street vendor stirs a giant pan of succulent jalebi — bright orange, pretzel-shaped morsels of batter soaked in syrup.
For thousands of years, food stalls such as these have been an integral part of life in Delhi, serving hot, nutritious, cheap snacks that many consider to be the only authentic Indian cuisine.
Anyone who's ever been to Asia knows that street food is the easiest way for a traveller to get acquainted with a country's authentic cuisine because it's not gussied up for tourists, it's what the locals actually eat, day in and day out. Delhi without its stalls would be a sad sight indeed. [via The Morning News]
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2 Comments:
Ok, I'm dying to know what Delhi Belly is. I have an inkling, but just want to be sure I'm reading that right.
ArtoriusRex at 12:55PM on 04/13/07
I believe the official ban was on roadside cooking and open-air kitchens (at least that was according to my sources). The original proposal requires vendors to cook the food somewhere else and sell it in prepackage containers. This didn't make much sense to many food experts. And, the official government had receives so much flak that it had to revise its rulings.
This is a copy from one of Delhi's newspaper:
New Delhi: The Supreme Court order last month, which said all vendors and hawkers in the Capital to stop cooking on the streets, was received with a lot of flak.
But now, the apex court has said that it is not against people who enjoy street food and has asked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to create food courts.
“We are not against the people enjoying street food in Delhi, but it should be clean and food makers must maintain hygiene,” it was said.
The apex court's decision to say no to the roadside food in Delhi came as a bid to keep its streets clean.
It was said that food could be cooked at home and sold in packets.
“A stupider order could not have been passed,” Madhu Kishwar, an activist working with Manushi had said when the order was announced.
The hawker-vendor debate has been a long-standing battle but with the MCD which is now set on allocating designated areas for hawkers."
Bond Girl at 8:33PM on 04/15/07