Streetfood Safari

Illustration credits: Chhavi Mathur

“I don't want to cook today,” Mother said as she put aside her laptop. “Let's go out and eat some street food,” she announced loudly.

“You are planning on feeding us junk food,” Babbi's dad said incredulously. “I could cook instead,” he volunteered.

“Not at all,” Mom said. “I have some healthy street food options that I want to check out.” She looked at Babbi for her support and burst out laughing. Babbi was already jumping with joy at the idea of street food while nodding her head vigorously. 

The trio took a rickshaw to the local market and Mother made a beeline to the vendor selling boiled daal and asked him to prepare two plates of lightly spiced daal. “This is called moth daal or matki and will provide the proteins we need,” Mother explained as they savoured the tasty daal which was boiled with turmeric and just a little salt.

Next on Babbi’s mother's itinerary was the vendor selling roasted sweet potatoes. He prepared a plate of the chaat with a sprinkle of masala and a generous squeeze of lemon juice.

The hot sweet potato chaat tasted heavenly in the winter evening and was very filling. Babbi's stomach was nearly full but Mother wanted to try two more things before they called it a day. “Let us take a plate of dahi bhalla papri,” she said. “This has proteins, carbs, and curd to top it off,” she explained. “The tamarind sonth and coriander chutney are full of antioxidants and have all the spices that aid in digestion.”

The family had room for just one more thing and they looked around at the variety available with wide eyes. There were so many healthy options available. “Let's walk around leisurely and check what all is available. This would also help us burn a few calories,” Father suggested.

From samosas and chole bhature to tikkis and golgappe, steamed idlis and roasted corn, the variety was stupendous.

“Should we try flavoured milk, soup or those boiled eggs that uncle is selling,” Mother asked Babbi. Confused with all these options, Babbi flitted from one choice to another until her mother got her a boiled egg which was slit down the middle with black pepper and salt sprinkled over the yolk.

Mother chose the fragrant coriander soup while her dad took a glass full of thick milk flavoured with cardamom and almonds. Mother calculated that they had consumed about 800-900 calories. “The effort should be to moderate how much you eat. I suppose your dad and I had 350 calories each while you had 200. Just one burger from your favorite shop has more than 400 calories and it does not have as much nutrition,” Mom patted Babbi's head. “What we ate is a healthy meal, just like I promised,” she beamed.

(This story is also featured in On A Good Food Hunt (2024), published by the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi.)