How European breads became a part of India’s street food heritage. A tale of reverse cultural appropriation.

Misal pav, Aaswad, Mumbai airport. When a Portuguese bread met a Maharashtrian staple

Portuguese street food in Mumbai?

“Let me now show you a Portuguese dish,” said Dr Kurush
Dalal, an archaeologist, food historian and caterer from Mumbai, while out on a
food walk in the city. He took us to a food hawker stall by the streets, placed
his order, and came back to us with a bag full of vada pavs!

The vada pav is modern Mumbai’s most famous and popular
street food dish. It (the combination and not just the vada) is said to have been invented in the 1960s. The dish
consists of a batata vada (chickpea flour batter coated turmeric, fresh
coriander, whole mustard seeds, green chillies spiked mashed potato, deep fried
balls) stuffed in a pav (a rectangular cube shaped soft bread) and served. A wet green
chutney made with crushed coriander, freshly ground coconut, green chillies, and a dry red chutney made with roasted crushed red chilli and garlic, and a salted
and fried green chilli are the accompaniments given with it.

Vada pav, Fashion st Khau Gulley, Mumbai

Calling the vada pav ‘Portuguese,’ seemed as strange as calling
the Taj Mahal an Italian palace but Dr Dalal held his ground.

“Potatoes were introduced to India by the Portuguese, as
were chillies, AND the pav,” concluded the professor with his characteristic
impish style.

By that logic, the pav bhaaji, which is the second most
popular street food dish of Mumbai, could be called Portuguese too! Here, the
pav is served with a slightly runny vegetarian mash where the stars are boiled potatoes
and fresh tomatoes. Both of which were introduced to India the Portuguese in
India in the 16^th century. This was after the Portuguese explorer, Vasco
Da Gama, first came to India on 20^th May 1498.

Pav, poi. ITC Goa

The Jesuit priests who came to India in the years that
followed are said to have introduced the art of western bread making in India.
This was in Goa in the mid 1500s. 

Yeast was not locally available at that time
and sur or toddy was used as a rising agent instead. Thus, was born the pav
(which comes from the Portuguese word ‘pau’) and myriad other Goan breads such
as poee (a puffed up pita bread like bread covered with husk), katricha pav (a
crusty bread which is soft inside) and so on. The bakers of Goa are called
poders after the Portuguese term padeiro.

And a British high tea too?

Toast sandwich. Fort, Mumbai

The British were the ones who introduced white (sandwich) bread
to India, says acclaimed journalist and food writer, Vir Sanghvi.

The famous ‘Mumbai sandwich’ is where the sliced white
bread comes into play. A British influence that has made its presence felt on
the streets of Mumbai. The Mumbai sandwich consists of slices of
boiled potato, cucumber, tomato, red onions, beetroots, green capsicum,
sandwiched in butter, green wet chutney and red sauce (made with pumpkins
pretending to be tomatoes) slathered on to white bread. The sandwich can be had saada
(plain) or as a toast. In the latter case, the street corner vendor toasts this
in a handheld toaster over a small coal fired oven.

These breads were not part of the mainstream food palette of Mumbai earlier it seems as the bakeries that made them were run by Goan Christians or Irani Muslims and
Zoroastrians. The majority Hindu community of Mumbai avoided these at first. This
changed in the 1960s with the growing popularity of vada pav and pav bhaaji and
pav and bread is now had at homes across the city too and in restaurants and
cafes as well. The pav of the Portuguese is made with yeast and not toddy in
Mumbai today and this makes them more ‘acceptable’.

Interestingly, the popularity of the breads of the
Portuguese did not extend to north India where traditional Indian breads such
as rotis, puris, parathas and bhatures, as well as naans from tandoors
(introduced by the Turks and Arabs) dominated the local food culture though bread has made its presence felt now. In the
south, it is the fermented rice flour based dosa and uthapa, along with idli
and dosa, which are popular snack items and which score over pav.

The spread of the popularity of dishes such as pav bhaaji
and vada pav from Mumbai across the country is changing this though.

With some stew on the side in Kolkata

Pound ruti. Chittoda’s Kolkata

Apart from Mumbai and the state of Goa in western
India, it is in Kolkata in the east, where breads formed an important part of
the city’s street food culture. Calcutta, as it was known then, was the first
capital of the British when they ruled India before they moved the capital to
Delhi, after all.

The iconic chicken stew, made famous by Chitta Babu’s stall at
Dacres Lane, a grimy but iconic street food lane in the original business
district of Kolkata, and by the canteens of its football clubs at the maidan, is
served with a small loaf of bread called ‘pound ruti.’ This was introduced by the Portuguese too.

Another popular dish in the office para (CBD) of Kolkata is
the deem pauruti. A savoury version of the French toast, which is spiked with
finely chopped green chillies and red onions, red chilli powder and black
pepper. The pound ruti of Bengal is used in place of the brioche of France. The
deem pauruti of Kolkata is known as ‘anda bread’ across north India.

Toast makhon chini, toasted and buttered sliced bread with
sugar crystals sprinkled on top, is a popular road-side tea shop snack in
Kolkata. A city that runs on tea. And, let us not forget the pound ruti and ghoogni (white peas curry) that are so popular in these tea shops. Just as misal and pav is on the street corners of Mumbai.

Reverse cultural appropriation for a change

Dacres Lane, Kolkata. Pound Ruti coexisting with bhatoore

One could say that in a form of
reverse ‘cultural appropriation’, we Indians have made the breads once introduced
by our former ruler rulers, the pavs and the white sandwich breads, our own
today!

India is changing rapidly these days and is adopting many
global trends when it comes to food.  Its
big cities today have modern bakeries, cafes and five star hotels, the owners
or chefs of many of whom have trained in pastry making in Europe. France in
particular.

Sourdough breads, gluten free breads, bagels, croissants, baguettes
and brioches have all made their appearance across these and customers cannot
seem to be getting enough of them. Some Indian pastry chefs, who have trained
abroad, are now experimenting with using Indian grains, millets in particular,
in making western style breads.

These are exciting times indeed for bread in India. It seems
as if this is the second coming of bread in the country. Once again, with a
strong European influence.

Croissant and cappuccino, La Folie, Mumbai

This is an article that I wrote for HOST Milano, an international Horeco conference of which I have the honour to be the HOST ambassador from India. Here is the link to the HOST site where it first appeared.

References:

1.     Krutika
Behrawala, Livemint

2.     Vir Sanghvi, Hindustan Times