All Stories,  Asia,  India,  Travel to Eat

Best Thing About India: THE FOOD

03/05/2013 /
Photos are thanks to my friend Allison, since I can’t seem to take a photo of my food before eating it!

More specifically the endless range of food available to me as a vegetarian – this is heaven! Especially since I like things spicy! Back home I rarely frequent vegetarian restaurants because they try too hard at making something spectacular out of the weirdest unknown vegetables or faking meat based dishes. In other restaurants, I sometimes specify something without meat (since even salad usually comes with some kind of meat in Spain!), but I haven’t seen anything like India yet. Most restaurants here are only vegetarian, and they specify when a restaurant is “non-veg”! I have never had the freedom just to pick any dish on the menu and it be suitable and delicious. I still have no idea what it is I am ordering but I have yet to find something that I don’t like!

The only thing I have had difficulty with is adapting to eating with my hands. Many people do use cutlery in restaurants, especially with the Chinese influenced dishes. However there are always people playing with their food, mashing the slop into the rice and tearing the bread with just one hand (right is the eating hand) before scooping it into their mouths. I want to immerse myself as much into the culture as I can, but since my hands are always so dirty it’s hard for me to want to touch my food with them! I’m sure one day soon I will be stranded without utensils and hungry enough to try it… possibly one handed.