Student ( Makhan Lal Chaturvedi University ,Bhopal) | Posted on | Food-Cooking
What do Indians in the USA mostly eat? Why?
Thinker | Posted on
The major problem that an Indian would face in countries like USA is non availability of pure vegetarian food all the times. Some people tell their personal experience that most of the times they found themselves unable to enjoy meals outside because of being pure vegetarian, and end up eating the usual meal at home.
There however are some grocery stores in cities like New York which offer groceries as appropriate for Indian food habits. These are Patel brothers, Sai foods, Asia grocers, Apna Bazaar, etc. Some of them have even developed technologies to produce the crops usually eaten in India in USA, in order to cut shipping costs for the consumers.
In NY, you can also find many Indian restaurants serving authentic Indian food (some even offer authentic South Indian food), but they are quite expensive. All in all, an Indian won’t have much problem in USA from the point of view of food as we Indians even in India eat McDonald’s burgers, Fries, Hot dogs, etc. very happily. In simpler words, Indians, like people in other parts of the world, are Americanized enough to survive without authentic Indian food.
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As an Indian vegetarian married to a Caucasian meat-eater in the US (or as Indians might say- ‘non-vegetarian’), with one child who is being raised as a meat-eater and another who is being raised a vegetarian (oh yes, our family is our happy social experiment), here is how I get around to not cooking most days:
Hash browns are a great substitute for ‘aloo tikki’ (Indian potato pancakes with spices)
Sriracha. Great way to spice up your grits, your sandwich, your pasta, your rice, your dal without upsetting the rest of the family’s meal and getting those picky eaters to turn up their noses. I think when the makers of Sriracha put the tag line ‘I put Sriracha on my Sriracha’ they were thinking of people like me.
McDonalds standard order: The breakfast Egg McMuffin meal, Canadian Bacon on the side please. Yes on the Hashbrown, switch the coffee for Chocolate shake (I need the calories!). The Canadian bacon lands up in my 5-year old’s tummy, the hash brown is generally split three ways between me, the 5-year old and the 1-year old.
Barbecue restaurants- Once in a while my husband will crave barbecue (understandable) although he avoids it when its a family dinner night. While the husband and the five-year old gnaw on baby back ribs, me and the 1-year old create makeshift sandwiches from hamburger buns with coleslaw, tomatoes, french fries, pickle and then I slather my side with whatever is the hottest sauce in the restaurant. My husband starts his eye roll the minute he sees the waiter/ess approaching our table as a means of heads-up to her. Sometimes he follows this up with a “yes can you believe you got two vegetarians to come to this restaurant. You guys must be good!”
Successful cuisines for our family: Mexican, thai, italian (pizza/pasta). Believe it or not, Indian cuisine when eating out is not that successful. I have noticed that my kids don’t like even mildly spiced dishes at Indian restaurants and mostly land up eating naan (bread). So we avoid it. Chipotle is a 50% success. Unfortunately my husband doesn’t care for it much. Thankfully, home-cooked Indian food is a different story. Dal (various kinds of Indian lentils) is the most popular and a staple in our house. As are paranthas (Indian flat bread made from scratch on a flat pan, sometimes stuffed with potatoes, peas, leftover dal, cheese… you name it).
Eggs are a life saver. Thank god I’m not a vegan. We raise our own chickens and so I enjoy my eggs guilt-free. I do take dairy and intend to quit it one day, but that’s fodder for another post.
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St. Mary\\\'s College | Posted on
One thing for sure ..it doesn't matter where you live, you are still Indian. Most of us, we cook Indian food at home but definitely we get used to American and Mexican food. Again it depends on individual choice. If you are living in Texas or California it's something like you are living in second India. But if you are living in any Central states like Kentucky, you will get used to other foods as well.
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