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| What this tour is about: The character of cuisine in India is essentially regional; the sheer size of the country has forced every area to develop a style of cooking of its own. In times gone by, transportation and storage was a problem, and this meant that each area had to come up with a style of food which made do with locally available materials. As a result, India offers a very diverse set of regional cuisines – with differences not only in ingredients, but also in flavours, colors, methods of cooking, and even the style of cutting vegetables. |
| What has helped along this diversity is the amazing number of religions and the sects and sub-sects within them. Each sect often has strict dietary codes. Many Hindu communities in Old Delhi are vegetarian and some do not eat onions, ginger and garlic. The Jain communities of Old Delhi are also vegetarian, but in addition, they do not eat after sundown, and are forbidden from eating root vegetables such as potatoes. |
| In this tour, we will take you to a Hindu home in Old Delhi, for a demonstration and tasting of traditional home-style North Indian cooking. |
| Before visiting the home, you will take a walk through a local bazaar, to learn about the ingredients and essentials of Indian cooking. The Sitaram Bazaar area where we walk has shops owned primarily by Hindu Bania merchants. The colourful and interesting street food in this market caters to the preferences of this community. You can choose to taste some of it if you wish. The area is also home to several small temples and shrines. Cows wander the streets, small dharamshalas (rest-houses) and pyaus (water-stations) attest to the pious contributions of local merchants. |
| After the walk, you will visit a haveli (old-style home with a central courtyard flanked by rooms), where a meal will be demonstrated to you. You can choose to participate in the cooking, or merely watch and learn. The family is Hindu vegetarian; they are old time residents of Shahjahanabad; and this is one of the few homes that hasn’t been broken down or divided into pieces and sold to multiple people. It is a chance to meet four generations staying together and see what life is really like in this narrow crowded part of Old Delhi, where adjacent houses share a common wall, and everyone knows everyone else! Please note this is not a cooking lesson; it is a chance to visit a home and get a glimpse of daily life. The haveli has a terrace from where there are views of Old Delhi in all its higgedly-piggedly chaos. |
| Duration: 4 hours |
Group Size: Designed for couples / families / groups.
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| What to wear: Please dress modestly for the bazaar walks; this is a traditional area of Delhi. |
| Costs: |
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INR 2500 per person, to be paid prior to the tour. Non-refundable. Please note this is not a private tour, there may be other people joining the tour. |
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| Includes: knowledgeable local resident who will take you on the Sitaram Bazaar Walk, introduction to street food in this area, visit to the haveli, all ingredients, interactive cooking session, dinner, bottled water, all taxes |
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