The most significant thing about your first experience at an Indian Market is bound to be your SECOND Impression, and Taj Mahal Imports is no different.

Your first look isn’t going to be anything noteworthy about the plaza lot beside Party City right off the freeway. If you don’t stop to read the name you may not tell it apart from another supermarket on the outside. Once you step inside you’ll feel just like you’ve entered a slightly shabbier Smart & Final. Then you start to inspect the items… 

An ordinary pile of rice bags (Top Left) has an entire row of Ganesh and Parvati figurines next to it. Then you go down an unassuming isle (Top Right) to find that what seems like a wide array of items are an entire isle of tea and paintings of the Hindu Pantheon. If you make your way to the freezer where the milk is then you’ll nearly walk out of the store with a carton of “Yogurt Drink” that has nearly identical packaging to you’re average Alta Dena carton. The juice boxes seem normal until you realize that instead of “Green Apple” “Strawberry” and “Raspberry” the flavors are “Green Mango,” “Lychee,” and “Guava.”

As you make your way to the back of the store, you inevitably double take as you see the counter, 2nd cash register, and section for bench seating. Now you’re certain that this is no ordinary grocery store. Especially since no one is checking out items in plastic baggies back here. The back of the room, (like much of your time realizing what’s around you) is a crash course in modern Indian culture. The Marketplace serves a significant social purpose in the Indian lifestyle. For Indians, the marketplace is an experience as universal as having a birthday or commuting to work. It’s a place where people meet, catch-up, and gather all of the things they need for the weeks meals fit for any manner of dietary restrictions. This place, while modernized with the fast food counter, is still a hub for Indians in America in the same manner as “ChinaTown” or “LittleSaigon.” Senn refers to these types of locations as, “Ethnic landscapes of immigrants in contemporary cities” (Senn 203.)  Whether you care about this or not there are plenty of great dishes that can be ordered from the café in the back. Having been pleasantly surprised by both the Pani Puri (Literally Bread & Water) and the Samosa Chaat, I can safely say that you can’t go wrong by ordering via the patented “eeny meeny miny moe” routine.

All in all, don’t let any of your first glances fool you. Contemporary Indian Markets are an experience in and of themselves that I highly recommend to everyone. Even if you don’t try the most outlandish items on the menu and take a gallon of Lychee juice with you for the road, (though personal experience will vouch for this course of action,) taking the time to give Taj Mahal Imports a second look will be one of the best decisions you and your stomach will have ever made.

 

  Samosa Chaat (Right) smelled too good for me to refrain from taking a bite before the picture.