JC in India

India is known for its curry, spice, rice, more spice, and more rice. Oh, and let’s not forget a bit more spice. Good job I’ve always liked this style of cuisine!

‘Going for an Indian’ is a common dining experience for us Brits back at home, with Chicken Tikka Masala being the 4th most eaten dish in the U.K. – if Google is telling the truth. Often though what we refer to as ‘Indian’ restaurants at home are of Bangladeshi or even Pakistani origin. The food on the menu in our ‘Indians’ back in the U.K. would be foreign to a local Indian though. I’ve yet to see Tikka Masala or Madras on any menu over here although I am sure variants of these and other familiar dishes do exist. What we are used to at home has really been customised to the foreign palate.

As a slight aside, I’d recommend a watch of the Goodness Gracious Me sketch “Going for an English” on YouTube. It’s hilarious and really does portray the counter stereotype so cleverly.

More negatively though the food association that comes to mind with India is of Delhi Belly, The Goa Grumble, The Mumbai Rumble – to name just a few of those descriptions for the side effects that are the result of getting it wrong with food (or water more usually) over here.

It’s a shame this negative association is often the first thing that comes to mind, as in reality the dishes created in India are often amazing and not just spicy Vindaloos as foreign perception may lean towards, but genuinely flavoursome and full of variety. I’m fortunate that I’ve always really liked Indian food, so for me living here in terms of food style is easy – I’m perfectly happy with a good Indian dish in front of me. Ok, admittedly there’s only so much of a good thing you can have and I regularly hanker after ‘Burger and Chips’ or the like, but I’m learning now to save that for when travelling and to embrace the local food while here.

The local style of food is very much rice based and what I would describe as ‘soft’, i.e. not a lot of hard biting required. Part of my yearnings are actually to have something to bite into (it’s funny what you miss when you don’t have it), so pizza is usually my itch scratcher for this although to be honest oven chips do live in my freezer and make the occasional appearance…

My food lifestyle here generally revolves around toast in the morning (I don’t drink un-boiled milk here, so cereals are not on the menu), Veg Thali’s at lunch in the office canteen, or omelettes if at home. Then the evenings are a combination of deliveries (Domino’s pizza regularly features), visits to The Pint Room for some good and reasonable eating out choices, or cooking up some pasta at home. I’ve no hope of being able to cook Indian food myself, as I’ve never been much use in the kitchen at the best of times, but pasta is an easy cop out!

A lot of expats actually employ cooks to prepare food for them, or more likely the maid will include that in her services. But that’s not for me, I’m too impulsive to plan what I want in advance, plus I’m more self sufficient in terms of style of living and am more comfortable sorting myself out. Although that does mean that my evening meals may not always be the best, and I could probably eat better to be fair…

Storage of food needs consideration too due to the heat. For example I am in the love marmite camp rather than the hate it one, and I keep a jar of it in my bedroom to have on my toast some mornings. In the bedroom I hear you ask!? Well, it’s because the kitchen gets too hot when I don’t have the air conditioning on – which is while I’m out for the day, or away – and marmite isn’t supposed to be refrigerated. So it lives in the back of my wardrobe, alongside any red wine that also happens to be in residence, to try to avoid too many temperature fluctuations, or exposure to too hot an environment.

The kitchen in my apartment is the lesser of the rooms in terms of quality (if that’s a polite way to describe it) and I should at this point mention the game of kitchen dishwasher jeopardy that I regularly play. There’s something not right with the electrical earthing of the dishwasher so any inadvertent contact with the internal metal structure gives a little gentle buzz of current, which adds a bit of fun and games to any loading and unloading!

The lunchtime Thali’s at the office are my main meal of the day in reality though, and consist of 3 small bowls of veg in different curry like form, accompanied with rice and breads. I skip the salad portion that normally should go with it. Not bad for the equivalent of 80p per meal.

On occasion I replace the Thali with a Paneer Chilli bowl, which is basically chilli sauce encompassed pieces of paneer cheese served in a bowl over rice. It’s good!

The office has a canteen area with a range of different concession counters, and is a hive of activity in the lunch period, with the whole office descending on it for food. Here in India, lunch is lunch, in that people go and eat properly rather than working through it. The lunch at the desk culture I was personally very accustomed to in the UK doesn’t exist.

Although a few weeks back while visiting our office in Goa, where the canteen is yet to be completed as part of the building works ongoing, lunch suddenly appeared out of nowhere. So that did mean a desk lunch for a change – although not quite the Pret A Manger I was used to having at my desk before coming out here!

There’s no set time for lunch, and it’s not structured like that, it’s just a more social culture of eating together. I personally enjoy sitting outside when it’s not too hot (i.e. over 40 degrees) as it’s nice to be out of the air conditioning for a while, enjoying the hazy atmosphere instead (I can’t say fresh air for obvious reasons!). And occasionally extra company will come by to join you…

There is actually a British counter in the canteen, which I’ve never bought anything from. It’s basically sandwiches, which in the main is a no go area here, given the unknown facts of how long they’ve been on the shelf, and also how they’ve been prepared in terms of water for any salad etc. The mantra has to be that if it’s fresh and cooked properly, then any harmful elements should have been killed in the heating process. It’s all about removing the risk, and even if that cheese sandwich does appeal, there’s no need to take a risk. I can always overdose on cheese sandwiches when I’m back in the U.K. if I’m so inclined.

So let’s talk about the risks of food and water here. Food here can be amazing when it’s selected properly and consumed safely. But… the key here is to being careful and avoiding ‘digestive issues’ requires a fair degree of caution. It is entirely possible not to be ill in India, and that needs to be remembered. The experience of everyone coming here getting Delhi Belly is certainly not true nowadays. Hygiene and sanitation has much improved in recent years, and taking simple precautions means you can enjoy a good diet and stay healthy and well. But it does take focus, and it isn’t always fool proof. It is entirely possible to consume something bad inadvertently, and even the most careful of us may get stung.

Unfortunately the cleanliness of some of the areas around water supply and sanitation systems are not great and hence the risk of harmful bacteria entering the water system is high, hence the need to avoid tap water at all costs. Brushing teeth with bottled water is also a safe precaution to take, along with keeping finger nails short to avoid dirt accumulating there and being ingested accidently.

Thankfully to date I’ve been generally ok. There’s been a couple of times where I’ve had something which has upset my system, but I’ve not yet had the ‘lying on the floor of the bathroom coming out of both ends and can’t leave’ moment (which is the description one of my colleagues used to describe his situation once). The worst I’ve been was actually in Goa having had dinner in a 5 star hotel restaurant. My thinking now is that it must have been the soup, as often water in soup isn’t fully boiled just taken to a high heat instead so as not to dent the flavour.

It’s often said that the posh hotels are the ones to take more care in, with food potentially being reheated and the possibly false perception that a nice hotel equals safe cuisine. That is not always the case for sure, and avoiding those big hotel buffets is a must.

I’ll never forget one business trip here a few years ago with my friend and former colleague Rob. I’ll never forget being in the car on a busy expressway jammed with traffic, and him looking across at me saying he wasn’t feeling well, with a pained look on his face. Hotel buffet – told you! (Thankfully he was ok, but it still raises a smile now that we can look back knowing it didn’t descend into the ‘backside disaster’ that it could have been!).

But it can happen to anyone, and just takes one moment for the ‘bad stuff’ to get in. My assistant was very ill recently for a few weeks, to the point of almost being hospitalised, and she’s a young and healthy Indian local – she said it must have been something she drank. And it’s not uncommon to hear of local people being away from work due to not being that well. So it is fairly prevalent and is part of life here needing to be careful with what you eat and drink. It certainly is not just a traveller and expat situation, although travellers are of course more susceptible due to not being that conversant with the ‘rules’ or acclimatised.

The key though is simply to follow some very simple and well known principles. Eat only cooked food, avoid impure water, and go vegetarian. The vegetarian principle is one I’ve personally adopted while in India, purely as a de-risk strategy. It’s often under cooked or bad meat that causes the worst issues, so my strategy is simply to avoid meat here. To be fair it’s probably overkill, as in the main if the meat is well sourced, fresh and cooked well there should be nothing to fear. But for me it’s a choice to just remove that risk. The vegetarian food here in India is very good, as Hindu’s are vegetarian in the main, so about 50% of the population is said to be vegetarian and it is completely normal to have the food options as Veg or non Veg, and no eyebrows raised at all given the sheer normalcy of that here. Also the vegetarian food is great, with some amazing dishes and variety available so it really is a fine way to go.

The avoidance of impure water though is the highest priority. It is generally the water that causes the problems, hence the need to avoid salads in places where you are not sure of the sanitation methods. Likewise with ice in drinks.

That said nowadays the need to avoid salad and ice is actually less of a requirement, as the vast majority of restaurants of any quality would only use ‘RO water’ (reverse osmosis water, where it is cleansed through filters at source) or industrial levels of bottled water. I have a RO filter in my kitchen, although when I asked my landlord about drinking that water they didn’t hesitate to say it should be fine but I’d be better drinking the bottled water instead. Didn’t inspire huge confidence I have to say in the RO system! But I do have an office style water cooler in the kitchen and the water is replaced as part of my rental agreement, so I have virtually unlimited bottled water on tap, so I just stick to this as no reason to expose myself if I don’t need to.

I’m at a point now though where I’m less afraid of ice and salads in places I’m confident about. I remember my first experience of receiving a drink with ice in it despite asking for the usual ‘no ice’ while in quite an important business lunch. I sheepishly asked my boss if it would be ok, and he gave the nod of approval, so I decided just to nervously go with it. There followed a half hour of worry, hoping there wouldn’t be any urgent stomach rumblings, but thankfully that didn’t happen. The story I heard of a former colleague mistakenly having ice in a drink in the airport lounge, then spending the entire flight back to the U.K. in the aircraft toilet still scars me!

There’s also a general principle to avoid street food. It’s certainly not all going to be bad, and will often be well cooked but the concern is more around the storage of street food prior to cooking. Again best not to take the risk.

I have to confess this last week though I sort of broke that ‘no street food’ rule as I found myself at the Hanoi “train station” in Vietnam relaxing with a beer after the end of a very busy week with little else for food options, so I took the plunge. But with veg noodles, and knowing they were wok cooked, meant the risk was minimal. Plus, the location made it almost rude not to…

The other factor to my benefit now is down to the fact I have been in India over 7 months, and I will be starting to build up levels of flora in my gut which will help my system cope with the bacteria here. Additionally I take industrial strength pro-biotics each morning which also help for sure.

It is true that in recent months my stomach has become much more stable, and less grumbly than I experienced in the first few months, so I think this gut flora argument does hold true. In reality I now should start brushing my teeth in tap water to help nudge that resistance level up a notch – a strategy I know some expat colleagues have done, and they have been fine.

Having to constantly consider the implications of everything I consume is hard work and does require focus. But it was much harder initially. Standing in the shower mouth firmly closed, and blowing my nose the minute I got out to clear any water that may have gone up my nose, is now second nature and I’m also far more relaxed about it. I’m less likely to get ill from this than I probably was on day one as my system will have adjusted more by now. It feels completely normal to have a bottle of water next to the sink in the bathroom for the teeth brushing. It’s not unusual anymore, it’s just the norm.

As is reading a menu running through the mental checklist of ‘water contact potential’ and ‘level of heat required to prepare’. That has now become second nature.

My attitude here remains though not to take unnecessary risks, although I am becoming more relaxed now as time passes. My colleagues who are a year or so ahead of me in terms of time here, happily order the chicken dish or the prawns. That’s likely a step too far for me, as those from a food perspective have the biggest danger flags over them, but in reality if they are well prepared, sourced properly and are fresh then they should only carry the same risk as anywhere else in the world. But for me, I genuinely enjoy the variety and quality of the vegetarian food, so I’m perfectly happy keeping that lifestyle.

Embracing the food here, and enjoying the amazing dishes available is part of the experience. It’s not all spice spice spice, even if that is a baseline to most dishes – although mild spice options are available! Top hint: if it says ‘spicy’ here, you can safely assume the word ‘very’ should be included too…

“Going for an Indian”, is just the way of life here of course. Although when I go back to the UK next, as much as I love Indian food, I shall be “Going for an English” for sure!