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Here Are Some Interesting Facts About Food Items We Consume Regularly

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Tanya Sirohi
Tanya SirohiUpdated on Jan 17, 2019, 17:48 IST

George Bernard Shaw couldn't have said it better when he said, "There is no love sincerer than the love of food". Be it a simple home-cooked meal at the end of a long day or a much deserved 'dinner of gods,' there's little that soothes the soul like food does. Every flavour, every spice adds to the chord progression that creates your favourite dish much like your favourite music. On that note, let's fork our way through these food facts that will leave you drooling:

1. The Bombay Duck Fry is a dish made of fish and not duck

India on a plate

India on a plate/Bombay Duck Fry

2. The pav bhaji that you've come to love so much has a direct connection with the American Civil war

3. Dhansak, our favourite Parsi dish, is a unique combination of 'dhan' meaning grains or legumes and 'sak', a Gujarati word meaning cooked vegetables. 

4. It's said that pani puri dates back to Mahabharata. Kunti gave her new daughter-in-law a bit of flour and some potatoes that were good enough to feed just one of her husbands. But Draupadi, a smart one herself, made puris with the little flour that she had, and filled these with spicy water

India on a plate

Pani puri/Pinterest

5. The word 'paratha' is an amalgamation of 'parat and 'atta,' which literally translates to layers of cooked dough

6. The first potato came to India just 500 years ago

7. What's so special about the Amritsari kulcha you ask? Interestingly, to make an Amritsari kulcha, after the flour is kneaded, it is laid in seven layers and then a piece of this layered dough is taken and stuffed with just about any stuffing of your choice. It is then rolled up and cooked inside a tandoor

India on a plate

India on a plate/Amritsari kulcha

8. Till the mid-1800s, Indians thought tomatoes were poisonous

9. What do you think the word 'chaat' means? According to many, a chaat is anything that has curd, chutney and tangy, salty spices. But, really, 'chaat' comes from the word 'chutney,' which, in turn, comes from the word 'chaatna' meaning 'to lick

10. Dhansak is a mourning dish, and is never eaten on an auspicious occasion

India on a plate

India on a plate/dhansak

11. Gujaratis were known to add sugar or jaggery to their food to counter the taste of salty water

12. The Amritsari kulcha is so crisp, it's probably the only Indian bread you can actually hear

13. Lord Ganesha's favourite mithai, modak, first found a mention in the Mahabharata as 'modaka.' It is also mentioned in Tamil literature as moodagam

India on a plate

India on a plate/modak

14. Did you know the famous kada prasad at the Golden Temple is made of a 1:1 ratio of aata, ghee and sugar to symbolise equality?

15. While some say biryani came to India from Persia, other stories claim it was Mumtaz Mahal who first made biryani to feed the soldiers of the Mughal army

16. It is said that almost 2.5 lakh chapatis are made daily to feed people at the Golden Temple langar that feed roughly 1 lakh people every day

India on a plate

India on a plate/langar ki roti

17. While some say that the delectable Jaipur ghevar was inspired by Persian architecture, others say it was invented in Jaipur. But one thing that remains a fact is that it is connected to Ayurveda

18. The word biryani comes from the Persian word 'birian' which means 'fried before cooking'

19. The Raj Kachori is especially popular in Rajasthan for the pure reason that the ingredients used--saunf and dahinya--are cool by nature and a perfect counter to the state's sweltering heat

India on a plate

India on a plate/Raj Kachori

20. Oh, and you can thank the kebabs for clearing the way for butter chicken. And while we're still trying to figure out whether it was the egg that came first or the chicken, one thing's for sure, butter chicken arrived on the scene because by then kebabs had become popular

21. Turns out, of the 18-22 ml of dough used to make ghevar, there's a recovery of just 6-7 grams. So, the amount put in for 250-300 grams of ghevar is pretty huge. That's math only the tummy can justify

22. After partition, a lot of families moved from Pakistan to India leaving everything behind. But since they all knew cooking, they opened numerous dhabas in India. And that's exactly how the culture of dhabas started in India and gained popularity overtime

India on a plate

India on a plate/street vendor

23. The famous Kolkata kathi roll or simply the Kathi roll comes from 'kati roll.' That's because it's usually stuffed with kati kebabs

24. It's hard to imagine greasy, delicious and filling Indian meals without onions. But we'll have you know that onions were once looked down upon in ancient India and those found eating them were expelled from the city gates

25. A man named Nobin Chandra Das is credited with the creation of the famous rasgulla. He is said to have created the first one in 1868

India on a plate

India on a plate/Roshogolla

26. According to food historians, the dosas of Tamil Nadu are small and fluffy like pancakes. Meanwhile, the cripsy, crunchy version that have becomes so popular today originated in Karnataka or Udupi

27. It was in Kolkata, about a 150 years ago that the Indo-Chinese cuisine we love so much today originated. And speaking of Hakka noodles, noodles are a symbol of longevity. It's, in fact, considered very unlucky to cut up noodles

28. Did you know the humble chikki is connected to the 'chuk chuk gaadi?

India on a plate

India on a plate/chikki

29. Pork-eating in Goa was popularised by a mandate under the Portugese rule that required that all those who had converted to Catholicism eat pork and keep pigs in their backyard

30. The biggest dosa ever made featured in the Guinness book of records. It was 54 feet and 8 inches long, and weighed 13.69 kg

31. Did you know the vindaloo was originally a sailor's dish? It took the Portugese sailors coming to India to trade three months to reach. And so it made sense for them to carry non-perishables like wine, garlic, onions and dried meats, and these very ingredients gave us the true-blue vindaloo that we've come to love so much today

Join Kubbra Sait and Indiatimes on a fantastical and flavourful journey on #IndiaOnAPlate, only on Indiatimes. Watch all the episodes here.

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