Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: May the best biryani win

Hindustan Times | ByVir Sanghvi

Feb 15, 2020 09:23 PM IST

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North Indians over-praise their own biryanis and rarely give due credit to the South Indian tradition

A week and a half ago, I found myself in the middle of a Twitter controversy. I entered the picture when I quote-tweeted the journalist Rohini Singh who had made fun of Kolkata biryani. Perhaps because I lived in Kolkata for so long, I get a little defensive when people make fun of the food of that city, especially when they compare Kolkata biryani to classic Avadhi briyani.

The Malabar biryani may be related to the North Indian one

The Kolkata biryani is a poor person’s dish with potatoes and boiled eggs  (Shutterstock) — The Kolkata biryani is a poor person’s dish with potatoes and boiled eggs (Shutterstock)

All over India, there exists a biryani tradition more complex than anything we encounter in the North

Biryanis and pulaos of Avadh are part of a royal tradition (Shutterstock)

Hyderabadi biryani was created using some of the flavours of the Deccan (Getty Images)

Like Tamil Nadu, much of Kerala biryani too is distinguished by the use of short-grained rice (Shutterstock)

Purushotham Naidu specialises in Malayali food

Regi Mathew reckons that the Thalassery biryani is a pre-Islamic dish

The Thalassery biryani is probably a South Indian dish that predates the arrival of the Mughals

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vir Sanghvi

Why hide the papers? Why keep the conspiracy theories related to Netaji Subhas Bose’s death alive? And why deny India the truth about the death of one of its great freedom fighters? ...view detail

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Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: May the best biryani win

North Indians over-praise their own biryanis and rarely give due credit to the South Indian tradition

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