Walking into the India Bazaar, I truly felt like I had been transported to a grocery store in India. It is amazing to think that these pockets of culture exist within our mainstream lives. It helps demonstrate how diverse America has become and it is amazing that we have access to other rich cultures.
Inside the India Bazaar my eyes were opened to just how different the food culture is in India. There are few products I saw other than rice, produce, and some spices that I feel like America commonly shares. Even the items we do share in might be more or less popular in either India or America. For example, I noticed the presence of plantains in the produce section. While, I have eaten plantains and recognized them, they are not necessarily common in traditional American grocery stores. Whereas at the India Bazaar, there were as many bananas as there were plantains. So. what does that say about the differences in American and Indian food culture? Clearly there are a lot.
The abundance of rice was also quite impressive. To me, rice is rice. There may be different flavors or grains but I don’t think much about it. However, inside the India Bazaar there seemed to be every kind of rice you could imagine. More, in my case. There were multiple brands and types of rice. This amount of competition demonstrates how high the level of demand is for rice alone and the importance of its existence to Indian food. Furthermore, Indian food translates to a way of life which means rice is critical to the overall culture in India.
There were so many interesting things to see inside the grocery store including common Indian products that have come from outside influences. For example, the rose water that is so popular is actually a Middle Eastern influenced product. I use rose water for my face, but in India they add sugar to it and drink it–a crazy amount of sugar if you look at the nutrition facts. Many of the packaged cakes, biscuits, and cookies were of British influence. They also sold Lays Chips imported from India. Why not just buy the American ones? There must be an ingredient that makes them more special or specific to the Indian food culture. Overall, there was a remarkable amount of imported Indian food products.
It was also interesting to learn about the food packaging. Many of the products were marked with a green dot in the bottom left corner to signify they are vegetarian. This reinforces the importance of vegetarianism as a part of the Indian food culture. While not all Indians are vegetarian, it is largely representative of the subcontinents food history and health which carries into today’s Indian culture.
