A Bong friend recently dragged me to have lunch at an eatery here in Aurobindo Street called 'Jubilee'. The chief attraction here is that the food served is 'just like what we once had at home'.
So, in a fancy setting we had 'home food', at less than homely prices. With each mouthful my friend was going over the moon, while I was wondering - as I chewed on rice with banana flower ki sabzi - whether there were any leftovers in my fridge.
OK - it wasn't THAT bad but really, I wouldn't have wanted to pay 500 bucks for a meal like that. Because I am not from Calcutta and it did not bring back any fond memories.
But it set me thinking... The wheel has turned full circle.
When we were kids, going to a restaurant was the ultimate treat. It happened only a couple of times an year - on birthdays and anniversaries or even guests coming from outside. (In fact, we waited for such Bhagwaan's to come) and we'd usually visit only Nataraj or Neelam or for that matter if the the Devtas or Devis were that great, we would move to Shilpi which was an open air restaurant or may be sometimes Park View. But those were days you looked forward to.
But the tide turned when we moved out of the circumference of mom's cooking - and started living on our own. Cut to the present. After years of trial and error I have (at last) learnt to take care of the daily 'paapi pet ka sawaal'. I carry a dabba to office, and usually eat at home.
Of course we still do eat out a couple of times a week to:
a) Catch up with friends over a meal.
b) Try out some new place/ kind of food - for the experience.
Home economics
I think 'ghar ka khaana' will be the Next Big Luxury for many of us. As two-income families mushroom the question is - will they survive on ready-to-eat/ junk food/ Udipi meals?
Pondy has always had enterprising ladies who send lunch and even dinner dabbas with home-cooked food. But I think the next step is actually a chain of take-aways, located in office complexes/ malls from where you can pick up home-cooked mix n match meals.
So you could pick up 6 chapatis, 100 gms alu-tamatar ki sabzi and 100 gms moong ki daal + some dahi on your way home - enough for a couple.
The smart thing would be to have - the way dabba ladies do - a variety of cuisine. ie Gujarati, Punjabi, south Indian - more styles depending on demand.
Someone will of course have to study how to make on a mass scale food that tastes just like ghar ka. While no two moms cook alike, there is a generally accepted spectrum in which home food falls.
The menu would be more 'pedestrian' - tindi, turai, alu-gobi, tuar daal. Even if there's paneer - it would be home-style and not swathed in heavy gravies and spices like restaurants normally serve.
I read somewhere that Food Bazaar has started something similar on an experimental basis all over India, but haven't had a chance to visit. If anyone has - and can vouch for taste/ hygiene do lemme know!
I think custom has been dying a slow death in most walks of life ever since mankind got Henry Forded...and all ghars are not blessed with this aura of ghar ka khana.... some ghars .. they avoid khana :)and best are the mothers / wives who know how to plan their menu... so that their charges... keep asking for more... forever
Reminds me of this little place tucked away in one of the busy by-lanes in Madras which serves food in small take-away-friendly portions. I think it is called The Spicy and is purely geared towards office deliveries, serving (almost) homemade Gujarati stuff like theplas and khichdi with kadhi, etc. Even those who wanted to 'eat-in' were served in the same Styrofoam boxes.
Talking of pay-by-weight, there is a Saravana Bhavan also which has got a buffet-by-weight concept ('don't load your plate and then waste, we'll charge you for refills only by weight, thank you'). OK, if economy is the criteria then you are better off doing the unlimited meals in the ground-floor dining hall at the other Saravana Bhavans.
No comments:
Post a Comment