While we all love home-cooked and restaurant food, street food occupies a special place in our hearts. From aloo tikka to onion bhajji, kachori to bhalla papri - these dishes are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the street food of India. Recently, a bizarre trend has been taking over the street food landscape - that of using excessive mayonnaise, butter and cheese in street food recipes. This is done in order to make the recipe more rich-tasting and delicious. However, street food lovers are divided about this addition. Twitter user @balsher_sidhu took to the platform to express his thoughts about this, and the tweet soon went viral. Take a look:
(Unpopular?) opinion: Indian street food scene is being ruined by excessive mayo and shredded cheese. They just destroy the actual flavours. Indian food is good enough already without being drowned in mayo/cheese.— Balsher Singh Sidhu (@balsher_sidhu) August 16, 2022
(Also Read: Butter Or Mayo On The Outside Of Grilled Cheese Sandwich? Padma Lakshmi Shares Her Views)
The Twitter user was referring to the trend of adding grated cheese or mayonnaise to practically every street food item, be it Pav Bhaji or Dosa, Momos or street-style Pasta. "(Unpopular?) opinion: Indian street food scene is being ruined by excessive mayo and shredded cheese. They just destroy the actual flavours. Indian food is good enough already without being drowned in mayo/cheese," he wrote in his tweet. Although the addition of cheese and butter did make the item more delicious and indulgent, it added unnecessary calories and ruined the authentic version of it.
The tweet has received over 21k likes and 2.6k retweets since the time it was shared. Many were in agreement with the original opinion shared by the user. Other Twitter users too shared their thoughts about the excessive use of mayonnaise and cheese in Indian street food. They stated that the authentic recipes were better untampered with. "Yess! Let's Indianize Indian Street food again," wrote one user.
Take a look at some reactions to the viral tweet:
True! Not just that the traditional Indian food is being mutilated with cheese n what not! Esp the dosas n idlis! The humble dosa n idli in their purest form is heaven, but turning them into something else is ????— Bhagirathi (@BhagirathiCV) August 17, 2022
This is a popular opinion! We have all these great ingredients and great flavors (which the whites are adopting) while we are over indulging in fats (mayo is eggs and oil while processed cheese is pretty much mostly fat). I hope this trend dies.— anonymityisamyth (@anonymityismyth) August 16, 2022
Truly. one of the reason I don't like street anymore specially few old joints.— Elie (@morebayleaf) August 16, 2022
It's about popular taste.
Indian tastes are strong spices - masala-haldi, while Arab food has light flavours - result, Arab restaurants in Chennai quickly Indianized the food, drowning out its subtleties. What worked wonderfully with the more spicy Chinese cuisines failed here.— Abubakr Jamal (@AbubakrJamalSci) August 16, 2022
Definitely not an unpopular opinion and you forgot to add schezwan sauce to the list of so called fusion dishes...— Priti Gaikwad (@pritscribe) August 16, 2022
And varities od Dhokla is unimaginable pic.twitter.com/hQfQKwRAde— Nimesh Patel ???????? (@nimesh_h_patel) August 17, 2022
(Also Read: Street Vendor Is Serving Double Cheese Gol Gappa; Sparks Debate On Internet)
What did you think of this new trend of adding cheese and mayonnaise to street food? Do you think it will sustain or is it a phenomenon better laid to rest? Tell us in the comments.
About Aditi AhujaAditi loves talking to and meeting like-minded foodies (especially the kind who like veg momos). Plus points if you get her bad jokes and sitcom references, or if you recommend a new place to eat at.