Street Food

Street Food

I'm a big fan of Bizarre Foods starring Andrew Zimmern. If you don't know about him, he's this jovial guy that travels the world and tries all kinds of, yep, "bizarre foods". I have sat for several hours watching episodes of his adventures in countries all over the world eating cow testicles, fish eyeballs, spiders, grubs, worms, maggoty cheese. In every episode he finds a market place and wanders about trying different street foods.

I watch and wonder what it might taste like to sink my own teeth into a fried scorpion. Or what entrails wrapped in intestines is like. I recall an episode where he walked the streets of Delhi, an area called "Chandni Chowk", trying varied golden deep fried morsels. Foamy, milky, creamy treats. All sorts of stuff that looked really appetizing on TV. I insisted that we plan a stop in Delhi and take a spin around that block.

Well, since I arrived here, I've had some new "insights" about the standard of clean for the vendors of these food stalls. Well, the standard of clean all over India has challenged all of my clean standards. I recently reassured my mother, who was concerned about my serenity in India, that it's amazing what a tolerance for dirt and a sense of humor has done for me while traveling.

Anyway. Let's just say that my eagerness to try street food has waned. A few "challenging" episodes with Indian restaurant food has made me "timid" about trying street food. I actually decided to cancel the stop in Delhi and just head south instead. But a part of me still felt like I was missing out on something. Passing by those crispy looking, fried balls of gold stuffed with spices and potatoes and all sorts of other surprises still called to me. My food shakti had been activated by my guru, Andrew Zimmern and now, I felt like a bizarre foods wimp. Andrew would have been disappointed in me.

Here in Varanassi, the holy city, as others were searching for their spiritual salvation, I found what I thought was my own salvation. It started with a stop at a food stand with our Tick Tick/Guide, Sokol. We stopped for a chai and I noticed a pile of those golden balls. I asked what they were and he told me they were samosas and within seconds I was trying one. Then I had to try one of the other balls, which was a tomato, stuffed with spiced potato and deep fried. It is then served chopped into pieces and covered in spicy, savory dal and chili sauce. Yep, they were delicious. I felt great. I was emboldened by my new enlightenment.

The next day John and I wandered out into the market around dinner time. The streets were alive with people wandering through all sorts of food stalls. Giant woks were bubbling with hot oil and men were scooping out all types of crispiness. People stood and sat around eating snacks out of little metal plates. We strolled up to a Momo stand. Momos are steamed dumplings filled with vegetables like potatoes, beans and corn. A nice boy quickly invited us to sit down and we began to eat these delicious, little morsels. We dipped them in spicy sauces. Next we wandered to a Dosas stand. Dosas are crispy, savory pancakes that you roll up and dip into spicy sauces.

I was so pumped. It was easy once you got started. Other foreigners stood by and were soon swept up into the snacking themselves. Indian boys got to practice their English on us. Andrew would have been proud of me. He frequently talks about the important connections that sharing food brings to different cultures. I felt like an ambassador for Bizarre Foods as I wandered about snacking my way to nirvana.

That is until...John commented on the fact that they probably used WATER in the sauces. "Oh my Shiva!" I had broken the cardinal rule of my Bizarre Foods Guru. Never drink the water.

Suddenly the water was everywhere. I went back into a stall to wash my hands and the plates were dripping with it. (No paper plates in India. Way too expensive.) Then there was the fresh fruit juice poured into a glass, with drips of WATER in it. Feeling a little strange, I started to wander back to our hotel and as I wandered I watched as young men squated on the filthy ground next to water dripping from an ancient faucet to rinse and re-use the little metal plates that lay on the wet ground. The waves of nausea started to surface. I envisioned myself with all sorts of unpleasant reactions that I need not describe any further. I eagerly sped home looking forward to my daily dose of antibiotics and a slug of BOTTLED water.