"Samosa, Samosaaaa, Hot Samosaaaa...... one for Rs.2", theatre shopwala use to yell during the intervals(not in city theatres). I remember those days when I use to go to the nearby theatre around my town and eaten hot samosa's and puffs.I think very soon the trend will be like, "Pizza, pizza, hot cheese pizzzaaaaa... one slice for Rs.30"
What happened to our very own Hot samosa, Hot crunhy puffs, bhel Puri's and other tradition snacks? Is the Western food culture plaguing our society and trying to destroy our own food culture?
My wife who is in India right now on her vacation mentioned to me in our last phone conversations that its going really bad to worse from the last time we visited India.
She said, "I really wanted to eat puffs and Samosa's which we miss in US and they are nowhere to be found. Everywhere they are selling pizza's, burgers, french fries etc.,"
Looks like almost all the malls and big movie theatres complexes are now shifting to have the burger and pizza stands. They didn't stop there, new innovations show up everyday like COnniza's, pizza burgers and so froth. May be very soon, we won't find our streetwala's selling bonda's, samosa's and puffs.. They will all be selling hot cheese and vegi pizza changing with the wave to western food.
I know there were lots of political discussions aroused when McDonald's, Burger Kings shifted their attention towards our country and started shops all over country. But after a while, it all settled in and now nobody cares. Now there are 'n' number of other small vendors creating their own recipes to make money of this growing economy. We also try to ban Pepsi and Coke but they popped right back up with their creative ads.
I am not saying we should be venturing different food and culture but going to extreme of replacing our own food culture. * aaargh * I can't imagine it. That's not a good thing. In America too, they have other food culture including Indian making its way to every American kitchen's but not to replace their own burgers and sandwiches.. Just for a change only. We should accept other culture but not for the cost of losing our own identity.
When my boy grows up and visits India, he won't be any difference between US and India atleast in the food sense. That might be a good thing but not on a good perspective. Obviously every NRI has dreams to expose their kids to things which they enjoyed as kids(atleast for extent) but the way food culture is changing we might not have anything to show them...
Where are we going with this? Check out this article which came across, published in Dec 2006.
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Here is the small snapshot of that article,
As a result, obesity among India's 300 million-strong middle class is on the rise and dietitians warn that children in particular must change their eating habits now or risk serious health problems in the future.
"It's a very serious condition as obesity can lead to diabetes, heart disease and early heart attacks," said Ashok Jhingan, chairman of the Delhi Diabetes Research Centre.
"Many teenage girls are already suffering from diseases like polycystic ovarian syndrome, which is a condition that occurs in overweight females and disrupts menstruation, and other children have hypertension."
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Our food culture and heritage which is healthy and suitable for our own country is getting washed out and our kids are getting spoiled everyday. Can we do something about it? I know lots of parents taking precautionary measure by educating their kids on the pros and cons. But they are kids after all and they expose to different atmosphere everyday and we can't control them all the time.
It really worries the hell out of me sitting far away.. I don't know what you guys feel about it from India, especially parents with kids?
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