Street food is something that we all love to indulge in; the throngs of food stalls on the streets of India cater to palates of all kinds. From spicy tangy golgappas to the scrumptious bread pakoda and the delicious varieties of chaats, we take our street food very seriously. And, maybe, it is this obsession with street food that sometimes makes us turn a blind eye to one of the most basic requirements that we should adhere to, and that is hygiene. While there is no doubt that the street food scenario in India is no short than heaven for foodies, there has always been a concern surrounding how street food is prepared, served, and stored. A viral Instagram reel has come to the light for a similar concern.
@gareebpanda, an Instagram page run by digital content creator Virat Raghav, had recently uploaded a video showcasing the famous Barule chaat that is a beloved street food from parts of UP like Aligarh, Agra, and Hathras. The chaat is made with potatoes that have been marinated in a specific way. It is first fried in oil and kept aside, cut into smaller chunks, and re-fried for the extra crunch. It is then seasoned with dried spices like chaat masala and drizzled with green chutney. Look at the video here:
(Also read: Yuck! The 'Easiest Hack To Make Pasta' Made The Internet Cringe; Watch The Viral Video)
The chaat no doubt looked delicious, but the preparation, not so much. The video has garnered over 3.8 million views, 138k likes, and 676 comments. While many comments said how they were familiar with the chaat or how delicious the end product was, the majority of the comments pointed out how unhygienic the oil looked. The oil looked dark in colour and had foam forming on it. From disgust to hatred, the quality of oil used for frying this chaat received all kinds of backlash.
Some of the comments left on the video were "Oil is extremely unhealthy and is too used to be used again", "How people are not scared of eating street foods now a days??", "Look at oil .... Not healthy I guess he is using that oil from past 100 years.... Whatever support good people so they can improve the quality of food" and "Oil enough for a heart attack".
Other comments on the oil were "Kitne time se oil change ni kara... Esa lag raha h engine oil me fry hore h" (How long has he not changed the oil for it looks they are being fried in engine oil), "Oil kitna sall purane hai bhai?" (How old is this oil), "Bhai isko khane ke bad liver ki halat kharab" (Eating this is going to affect your liver) and "Ye konsa sada hua oil h" (What kind of oil is this).
Some of the positive comments the video received was "Aligarh me famous h" (This is famous in Aligarh), "Mazedaar" (Looks great), "I tried this barule this is so tasty" and "Looks too tempting".
What are our thoughts on the oil being used for street foods, would you still try this chaat if given a chance? Let us know in the comments below.