Grocery shopping today, I passed the meat counter, and there was fried chicken for sale. I felt like a snack, and took the smallest packet available. When I opened it up, though, I was in for a surprise:
It was a packaged portion of fried skin! I always get mocked at the in-laws’ Thanksgiving dinners, when my brother-in-law and I fight over the turkey skin. Well, apparently we would not be laughed at in Jakarta, where it is available in the local supermarket.
Eat your heart out, Uncle Kevin!
India is a vegetarian’s heaven. Besides all the fresh fruits and veggies that are available in the markets, at roadside stands, and in neighborhood carts, the idea of vegetarianism permeates the culture. Religiously, it makes sense. Since India welcomes all sorts of different faiths, including those that won’t eat beef (Hinduism), those that won’t eat pork (Islam and Judaism), those that don’t believe in killing any creatures at all (Jainism), and those that don’t prohibit meat but still kinda sorta recommend against eating dead animals (Buddhism), the easiest way to avoid any misunderstandings is to stick to a vegetarian path.
As such, all food that is packaged in any way is marked as either being ‘vegetarian’ or ‘non vegetarian’ with little green or red dots. Menus in restaurants (if the place isn’t billed as “Pure Veg” to begin with) always differentiate between vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. Even McDonald’s has a completely separate Veg menu (including such favorites as the McVeggie, McAloo Tikka, Paneer Salsa Wrap, and Veg McCurry Pan).
Of course, this also means that meat dishes can be few and far between – as well as expensive. We bought 3 pork chops the other day (frozen, not at a restaurant) that cost 600 rupees: fifteen dollars!!! We have since found out that there are alternate places for meat shopping, but still! Our mainstay has become the ole chicken breast, but we’ll splurge every so often for some mutton (which is sometimes lamb and sometimes goat) and beef (which is really water buffalo). I try to talk the rest of the family into seafood as well, but there are few takers in that regard.
One of the craziest things is that the plain pepperoni pizza – nothing fancy at all – is usually the most expensive item on the menu at pizza places (Domino’s and Pizza Hut included, in addition to the home-grown stores). Oh, and as far as the non-veg McDonald’s menu? Still no beef there, no matter what you’re willing to pay: you’ll have to settle for chicken, as in the Chicken Maharaja Mac!!
One of my new favoritest foods here is lollipop chicken (or chicken lollipops, depending on which particular menu you are using). They’re just like a chicken wing, except that they have the bone with just a big blob of meat at the end. None of that pesky double boned wing stuff to get in the way of the goods! They are usually made without too much spice in them – you get that from dipping them in a sauce – so they are pretty safe for anyone.
Of course the name itself is great. I love the way these names get affixed to foods. Obviously someone thought it looked like candy on a stick, and that’s all she wrote. (Another interesting one was when we were eating in Aurangabad and tried Kentucky chicken, which was nothing more than fried chicken.)
Our vegetarian friends are not as excited with the name, however, and you can imagine how disappointed Alea and Breck were when we ordered dinner last night, I told them we were having lollipops for dinner, and then they found out the truth!!
Pumpkin muffins, apples, corn, peas, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, peppers, corn on the cob, jello, apple crisp, stuffing, casserole, and … tandoori chicken. Welcome to India.
We celebrated on Saturday, since we had a full school day on Thursday and went to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park on Friday for our day off. Mom and dad spent part of the morning doing a little shopping for Christmas presents and decorations, so we are doing a good job of integrating our holidays!
We all ate too much – the kids on veggies, mom on apple crisp, and dad on sweet potatoes – and then got our energy out by playing the Terminator game (this is a Breck invention, although he has never seen the movie. One person shoots a nerf dart at the other two, and if you get hit then you are the shooter).
The evening ended with a little Skype conversation with family in Minnesota, which brought a good holiday to a fun end. As Yoda would say, “Lots to be thankful for we have.”
Pictures from our day at the park are here…
