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. 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. But for me, the skills of the top chefs and the cuisine of the great restaurants fade in comparison to the genius of our street-food maestros. 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 the vendors, who Sangeeta and NASVI have brought in 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.

When the judging is over, Sangeeta and I give awards (including cash rewards) to the men and women who run the best stalls. It is always an incredibly emotional moment for everyone, because the vendors have never before been recognised or won any prizes. Many burst into tears and I have been known to brush away tears of my own.