The food experience in Gujarat definitely merits its own post. For starters, it was all vegetarian, all the time. What was surprising was how many different distinct dishes they could make out of vegetables, especially given that the only bean they used was chickpeas. There was also no alcohol, as Gujarat is a dry state. There are large fines and jail time if you are caught drinking. So yeah, it was kind of odd to be at a wedding with no meat or alcohol, but like all things, we just rolled with it.
This was the food tent, which was in the family’s backyard. It could seat roughly 300 people at a time and they usually did 2-3 sittings per meal. It was a major production. I was shocked to find out that when you do an Indian wedding, it’s customary to feed anyone in the vicinity for 3 days (the length of all wedding ceremonies). Yup, so any neighbor, friend or relative can show up and you get to feed them. Can you even imagine how expensive that would get in the States???
Things were very traditional in the village. All of the men ate first and then the women took their turn. The children seemed to be mixed between the two groups. Foreigners were given an exception and allowed to eat mixed-gender but it was a bit awkward.
For meals, you only sat on one side of the table. A giant silver paper plate the size of a pizza tray was put in front of you. Then you received a green plastic bag that had a fork or spoon, a napkin, a cup and 2-4 little paper bowls. The servers would then begin coming down the row ladling food on to your plate. A typical meal usually had 2 types of bread, 1 soup, 2 mixed veggie stews, 3 accompaniments, rice and a dessert. It was a lot of food. And here’s the best part. They just kept coming back and asking if you wanted more. At LEAST 2-3 asks per item per meal. Crazy, huh? This big mix of food is called Thali and is common in all parts of Indian. What’s on the plate varies by region.
The meal production was pretty impressive too. I went behind the scenes one day and snapped a bunch of pictures. Here’s what the outdoor kitchen looked like. First we have the rice. It’s hard to grasp the size but that’s a big firepit-sized pile of rice on the ground.
Then the oh-so-good fried Puri bread that makes the perfect dipper for just about anything.
Next we have a delicious soup.
And here you can get a better picture of the kitchen set-up. It was pretty much a giant row of industrial-sized vats with gas burners under them. And about ½ the vats were filled with oils to fry yummy things. In the picture below you can see them frying papadums, kind of like a crispy tortilla. There was also some sort of mixed vegetable stew in the foreground.
And here’s an example of what some of the relishes/accompaniments looked like. I learned that there’s no wrong way to mix and match your Thali!
One night we were even treated to a Mumbai favorite – pav bhaji (I’m told the Mumbaikers stole it from the Gujaratis). It’s basically a puree of vegetables and masala that you dip with bread. It’s the Indian version of comfort food and is sooooo good.
Here’s a peek at the prep table just before they were getting ready to serve one of our meals. As you can see, this meal had 10 different items being served (not including the rice and dessert, which come later). I would have such a hard time maintaining a regular weight here! I’m not gonna lie though, I did indulge. I just kept telling myself, “It’s just vegetables – it’s good for youâ€. :)
Stop back for post 3 tomorrow!
