Protest on the streets

Street food vendors already struggle to survive. Why are we demonising samosas and jalebis as health hazards and not the real offenders – ultra-processed snacks?

- VIR SANGHVI

Where do you get the best food in India? It's not a difficult question to answer. The best food in India has always been on the streets.

India's street-food vendors get a really bad deal. They are terrorised by the police. They have to pay off municipal officials from their meagre earnings. And most of them barely eke out a living.

As some of you may know, I am part of an organisation that does a list of India's top 30 chefs and also rates restaurants. Each year my organisation also ties up with the indefatigable Sangeeta Singh of the National Association of Street Vendors (NASVI). Sangeeta organises a street-food fair and we get some of India's best chefs to come there and judge the food made by vendors from all over India. Without exception, the chefs are bowled over by the excellence of the food, and many, like Manish Mehrotra and Ritu Dalmia, are inspired to go back and create their own takes on the dishes they have tasted.

It's always an incredibly emotional moment, because the vendors have never before been recognised. Many burst into tears and I have been known to brush away tears of my own.