Fast food culture of India: the East-West divide

India is a land of diverse cultures and equally diverse eating habits, hence it is but natural that the same is reflected in the fast food culture – while there is a predominant North-South divide, there is also an East-West one.
When one broaches the subject of fast food, one normally visualizes pizzas, hamburgers and coke because fast food is supposed to be a Western concept, an indication of a fast lifestyle. But, it would be of interest to know that fast foods were known to Bengalis as far back as the fifties – there used to be a tele-bhaja shop near Beadon Street where one had to stand in queue to wait his turn of the deliciously hot, crisp tele-bhaja made of thin slices of brinjal or potatoes dipped in a batter of besan.
The people in the queue would be from six to sixty years of age, men and women alike. It was rumored that the oil used to fry these delicacies was never changed – when the level became low, some more oil was just added to top up the level! The special taste of these tele-bhajas was attributable to this singular factor – that is what people say!! This is not to belittle the moghlai parathas and kaviraji cutlets which used to hold center stage in the times when people still patronized the cinemas.
Then there are the singaras and the jilipis specific to the Bengalis.
In other parts of the country, singaras are better known as samosas and jilipis as jilebis. The only difference is that in the Bengali culture, both these items are normally found in the breakfast menu and are seldom prepared after nine in the morning! The reason is not very far to discover – the fast food menu of Bengalis revolve around the umpteen plus one roadside stalls set up at nearly every street corner. A very practical method of tackling mass scale unemployment, each stall owner manages to break even and earn a reasonable amount of profit.
Nowadays, they have entered the roll market – it allows money to roll freely. There are various types of rolls like egg roll, chicken roll, mutton roll along with Chinese dishes like noodles and chili chicken. Variety is the spice of life, so the saying goes, and the Bengalis have mastered the art of serving innumerable types of fast foods. With hundreds and thousands of hungry mouths to feed, they seldom face a shortage of customers. Irrespective of whether it is a sultry summer evening or a wet monsoonish one, fast food is always in demand. The ingredients used in all such preparations, when mixed in the correct proportion and fried, emit such an out-of-the-world aroma that you would literally stop in your tracks to taste the final product. Our TV chefs would give millions to learn these secrets!!
In the Western part of India, to the Mumbai crowd, fast foods mean bhel-puri at the Juhu sea beach or pav-bhaji or misal-pau or wada-pau or sabudana wada – pau is a common factor. This pau is a form of bread – shaped like a bun, it is not sweet and is an integral part of these fast foods. And - there is no dearth of customers. One needs to remember that chilies are an important ingredient.