Most Indians don’t eat lunch at 12:00. Early risers eat lunch before 11. Late risers eat lunch after 2pm (sometimes as late as 4pm).
So if you’re a just right riser, like me, it’s easy to get a good seat at the just right time for lunch – noon. Call me prejudiced if you will, – wait, I change my mind. Don’t call me predjudiced – that sounds racist. And I’d feel better if you put down those bricks and bottles. That’s better. Now what pithy, unprejudiced remark was I about to make? (Suddenly all I can think about is black lives matter and power to the people.) Oh well, pretend I said something clever and let’s move on.
In India, after a busy morning of sticking it to the man, you’re ready for a nice light lunch.
You want it light since breakfast tends to be pretty sizeable and dinner is The Most Important Meal of the Day. (I know, Kellogg’s has been hollering for decades that breakfast is the most important meal for the day – not dinner. But which one would you rather skip?)
The hands-down favorite Indian lunch item is Kentucky Fried Chicken.
They call it KFC and most fans have no idea (or care) what the K stands for. But I didn’t come all the way to India to stand in line at a KFC. Or a Pizza Hut (their hands-down second favorite). What I want to know is what have they got here that’s really, really good that you can’t get in the States?
Number Three Choice: Naan!
It’s like pita bread but chewier. You order some tasty, sloppy curry, beany, ricey indian dish and use your naan as a spoon. Comes in plain, buttered and garlic. Garlic’s the best.
Number Two Choice: Momo’s!
They’re little steamed dumplings filled with fresh vegetables and chicken or pork (if you go to a Hindu stand) or beef (if you go to a Muslim stand). You can eat one or two if you’re only a little hungry. Three or four if you’re moderately hungry. Thirty or forty if you’re really hungry.
And The Number One Choice of Tourists Writing This Blog: Curd!
But I’ve already covered curd. (See February 1 post.)
(What do you mean you don’t want to? All you have to do is scroll back to February…oh, so “that’s too hard” is it? Why, back in my day, we had to walk five miles to the city dump and root around for hours to find previous blog posts…oh alright, here:
In America, we have yoghurt, In India, they have “curd”. Same kind of thing but three, maybe four times better. At least in the rural areas it is. (Probably due to the fact that the milk was still in the cow a few hours earlier.) You can find curd in Indian restaurants as well – where it’s only twice as good.
Truth be told, all of my Top Three can be had in America but like fish and chips in London or pastry in Paris, momos, naan and curd are quite a bit better in India.