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To try and describe India in a few words is not easy
to do; it is a very complicated country!!
It is like a big melting pot of people, poverty,
pollution, religion, class distinction, history,
food and with one of the fastest growing economies
in the world. India has some of the most advance
communication systems we know but on the other hand,
manual labor is still seen in the streets every day.
I don't think anyone would disagree - for the
majority, life is hard in India, especially for the
people in the rural areas. Many daily chores are
performed like they were 100 years ago; working the
farms for daily survival. If seeing these people
with barely enough to eat or working the earth with
traditional tools and animals does not change your
appreciation for life, nothing will. On the whole
the Indian people are delightful and the food and
country are amazing.
I flew from Kathmandu to Varanasi with Air India.
The airport at Kathmandu (Nepal) is an international
airport but in comparison to other international
airports, its services on offer were limited. Most
of the shops that were open were only selling snack
items. The only gluten free items I could find were
chocolate, chips, marshmallows and soft drink. Even
if I wanted to, I would not have been able to find a
gluten free meal.
 On
the Air India flight the snack served was a sandwich
and a piece of cake. No special meals were available
for celiacs (or anybody with a dietary need), so
this is one of those occasions you need to have
something in your bag. I reached for a packet of
rice crackers that had traveled nearly 2 weeks in my
bag. They may have been a little broken but they
tasted good!!
On my arrival in Varanasi, I think I was suffering
from cultural over-load. The drive from the airport
to the Ganges Hotel was quite confronting. The first
sight of cows in the streets, rubbish dumped
everywhere, people sitting in streets under poorly
built huts and every vehicle blowing its horn. Put
all that together and with me starting to experience
flu-like symptoms, all I wanted to do was get into
the hotel. I was feeling very poorly that evening
and did not have the patience or the desire to go to
dinner that night at the Hotel. Half of the reason
is I thought I could not be bothered trying to
explain gluten free. I opted to stay in my room and
have a gluten free tinned meal I had brought with
me. It is times like these you appreciate the fact
that you have gone to the effort to carry gluten
free food with you. Times when you are not 100% you
can eat with confidence and know you are going to be
alright.
I was starting to feel better the next day and my
appetite was returning so thought I would give room
service a go instead of venturing outside. I rang
room service and asked for any options that were
gluten free. This was not understood so I asked for
food “without wheat flour”. It was quickly decided
to send someone to my room to take the order. I was
happy, thinking someone would be sent from the
kitchen. To my surprise it was the same man who
brought my suitcase to the room two days earlier!!
He had no idea what I was talking about. When I said
food “without wheat flour”, he replied 'What you
want cauliflower!!' (I still laugh about it today).
This was going to be one of those times I needed to
make a calculated guess. I ordered vegetable pakora
and fried rice (no soya sauce). I ate this in Nepal
with no problems so I considered this a safe option.
It turned out to be very nice with no side effects.
 The first day in any foreign country is always going
to be the hardest especially if you are on your own
and do not have the help from a local guide. I would
suggest you give yourself time to adjust to the new
surroundings and culture. If you are on your own you
will need to try your best with the language barrier
and you will need to use your travel cards that
states your food requirements in the local language.
Also, copy and cut out the glossary of food terms
from the travel guide. (A word of warning with
travel cards is – India has many different dialects
that are spoken in the country but the main official
language is Hindi. This would be the most effective
card to use.)
I then joined a 14 day Intrepid trip starting in
Deli and ended in Goa. The tour was called “A Food
Lovers Guide to India”. We traveled to Agra, Karauli,
Jaipur, Bijapur, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Goa.
During this time our local guide would take us to
various restaurants and local homes. He would
converse with them in the local language and tell
them that I could not eat wheat flour and I never
once had an issue. I ate some beautiful indian meals
that you could never copy anywhere else. We also
went to local markets and then put all that
knowledge to use in a local cooking class. Being
gluten free did not worry me at all and I would
highly recommend this trip to any Intrepid traveler.
I believe wheat flour is used more in the north of
India than the south of India. However, in saying
that many dishes are made using chick pea flour (besan)
or lentil flour. The options are quite extensive
when it comes to food choices. You cannot eat Naan
bread for example, but you can eat a North Indian
bread that is gluten free called Makki. In southern
India you can enjoy a Dosa Pancake. These are made
from rice and lentils and can be enjoyed as a savoury
or sweet pancake.
A typical day of indian food may include:
Breakfast:
Most hotels offer a traditional “western” style
breakfast. You can usually choose from yogurt, fruit
and eggs. Many hotels have boiled eggs (if they do
not offer eggs to order) but if they do you cannot
go past a Marsala Omelette. These very tasty
omelettes are a mixture of eggs, onion, tomato,
green chilli and cumin. When eating fruit, you
should choose fruit that has a skin and has been
peeled. You should drink only bottled water and
bottled fruit juice – this is to avoid any contamination
issues with the water. Sometimes fruit juices
offered have been watered down with the local water
so it is best to avoid it. A great tip is to take
with you savoury gluten free biscuits that can be eaten
with jam. Sometimes it is just the thing to have
with a cuppa.
Lunch
& Dinner:
Many options were available on tour.
I was able to enjoy many
 banquets
that were provided by our hosts at our Heritage
Palaces. A large selection of curries, mostly
vegetarian but not always. The selection included
mixed vegetable curry, mutton curry (mutton is
actually goat meat), polak paneer (spinach and
cottage cheese) and biriyani rice - so many
different ways to prepare rice – it is very tasty
and amazing. The rice puddings for dessert are also
very good. When dining out at restaurants, all the
dishes mentioned will be available. A local
specialty to try is Thali; it is a selection of
different indian dishes served in small individual
bowls. The dishes are usually dhal, rice, vegetable
curries accompanied with chutneys and pickles. This
goes really well with a serve of poppadoms.
Lighter Meals:
Sometimes it is “just a quick snack” that you are
after and not a full meal. As always, snack items
are a little more difficult to obtain. Some good
options are rice dishes, vegetable pakoras [fried –
made from vegetable and chick pea flour (gram
flour)]. Hot fries/chips are the best quick snack as
these are generally hand cut and cooked from
scratch.
Snacks:
You can buy packets of crisps/chips, nuts and
chocolate at most road side shops.
Drinks:
One thing you need to try is the Chai Tea. If you
get the chance to go to a Chai tea demonstration, do
it. It will be the best chai tea you will every
taste. Marsala Chai is a spiced tea made up of tea
mixed with indian spices, water and milk. It is
strained and then served. |
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After
traveling through Nepal, I then ventured across the
border into India for three weeks. The preparation I
spoke about in my article on Nepal was the same for
India. Grab a travel book and start looking at what
food you can eat. The countries are similar in many
ways i.e. types of foods, religion, culture and
climate.