Food glorious food.

Everyone that knows me knows that food is one of my greatest passions. Travel and writing about food are way up there too. And so a food tour of India seemed like the perfect mix. It seemed like we would suss out lots of street food and participate in a number of cooking lessons.  Food gives an insight into the culture and eating with locals an insight into how they live. 

Except it wasn’t quite like that. We were told a lot about the history and religions of this amazing country, looked at lots of stuff, heard about the seven spices prevalent in much of their food, ate in quite a few westernised restaurants where flavours were dumbed down to suit our palate and except for a very short participation watched other people cook essentially the same curries but with different cooking rules. 

I got curried out and was excited when we had something different. The tour was very structured and so ate where we were led leaving little opportunity to do our own thing. 

But, there was the odd spark of deliciousness:

The millet bread laden high with jaggery (raw sugar) we had with our thali meal the night the tour started. 

The breakfast in Delhi where we stood around a high table on the sidewalk and devoured curry, dhal,  and chapati. I’m sure they would not have tasted so good if we were sitting in a restaurant. 

The meal we enjoyed at the sheik temple was very basic but tasty. The highlight there was sitting in the huge hall being fed with all the other people. It was very special. 

The pyaz kachori from the shop in Jaipur where again we stood around a high table eating kachori with the crusty outside and the spiced potato filling oozing out and warming our tum. 

Bijaipurs cooking demo of Laal mas really got my juices flowing with a curry like no other. Heady flavours of bay, cardamom, cinnamon had me in raptures.  

The samosas and kachori that were smothered in gravy and crunchy bits on the sleazy side street in Udaipur. The cows wandering in front of us didn’t put us off our food. 

Biryani from the ‘railway restaurant’ as we were leaving Udaipur was one if the tastiest dishes I’d had. Maybe because it wasn’t tempered for ‘englez’ taste and gave me a real zing. 

Mumbais famous beach stalls gave us an assortment of yum and our first taste of chaat and thankfully my last taste of the revolting betel leaf piled with coconut which the others ate while it was flaming. 

Mumbai gave us the chance to have a dosa, mine with a great masala sauce. Something a bit different. 

The cooking demonstration in Goa gave us some new flavours including the prawn curry and the fish and the eggplant Recheado. Now that was divine and one I will definitely do again. 

Being so far from anything I ate most of my meals in the hotel in Varanasi and there wasn’t a dud, but similarly there wasn’t anything to rave about. 

And then came Kolkata. Kachori and chaat on every street corner. KFC like I’ve never had before - hot and spicy on another level. Fish and Chips in my room at the hotel and extra special Chaat to die for in the hotel restaurant. Pops of flavour with every mouthful and crunchy like corn flakes. A good bit of heat in the potato, the tang of tamarind and so pretty to look at. The best meal was the last and one I can happily taste in my dreams. 

Although I had a small sip I have to acknowledge masala chai that everyone drinks. Basically spiced milky tea made on every side street in all the places we went.  The thought of drinking hot milk was for me revolting but every one else loved it  

Not my favourite eating trip but I was introduced to lots of new flavours and textures that I haven’t had at home.