On Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 9:17 AM, Madhu Menon <[email protected]> wrote: > > flavours. Someone like my mother for instance, defines "good food" as > anything with lots of chilli in it. She believes that everything should have > "spice and tang" (loose translation from Malayalam.) There is no way I can
I recognise that phrase, my Mom uses it a lot too. :-) > As for why pork is not typically seen in Chinese restaurants here, again the > answer is that they want to appeal to the widest possible base. Most Muslims > are non-vegetarians, and many will not even go to restaurants that serve > pork. I think some 40% of the Indian population is vegetarian (anyone have > reliable stats on this?) and even in the non-vegetarian lot, many won't eat > beef and pork. Indians are stuck up on that plain-jane thing known as > chicken; almost everyone is OK with that, so that's what you'll find most > of. And "lamb" of course. (Ironic because lamb consumption in China is very > low.) You'll of course find the token one or two pork dishes on a coffee > shop menu in a five-star hotel, but they have to keep something for their > foreign guests. The mid-range restaurant owner decides it's better to play > it safe and not keep anything that might piss off potential customers. I love pork, but even I think twice before eating it anywhere other than a few select places. Given that there are few enforced food processing standards in India pork is a particularly risky meat to eat. -- b
