Locals Throng For Regional Dishes
Tamil Nadu Anna Snacks Centre’s Vellapandi Tevar
Dabeli Stall Owner Irshad Ansari
Paratha-sellers Rakesh Chavan, Komal & Prem
In cities like Pune, it’s easy for fast food enterprises, with ample resources, to lure crowds especially the young to their outlets with marketing tactics such as lucrative deals on social media, discounts, cash-back schemes, etc. Despite the cut-throat competition, small food vendors are surviving solely because of the quality of food they offer.
Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli’s Vellapandi Tevar left home 20 years ago. “I started selling home-prepared idli, vada, dosa, dal vada, sambhar, chutney, etc., a good 17 years ago in Pune. I have seen the demand of fresh, home-cooked South Indian food only increasing,” says Tevar whose stall is thronged by customers even as a neighbouring restaurant struggles to do business.
Irshad Ansari has been selling Kutchi Dabeli in a Pune locality crowded with students enrolled in nearby colleges and coaching centres. In a zone inundated with fast food joints catering to the student population, Irshad’s Dabeli stall stands out. Despite being a fried snack, his Dabeli is known to “never cause any stomach problem.”
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| Irshad Ansari selling Dabeli in Pune |
Irshad is aware of the digestive problems that ‘stale’ food and fried snacks cause and how, in the absence of alternatives, people resort to fast food and fall sick. “I can guarantee my dabeli won’t cause any problem.”
Rakesh Chavan has been making and selling stuffed parathas in Pune for over three years now. With mother Mankibai, and sometimes sister Komal, he serves a variety of freshly-made hot parathas. With his 13-year-old nephew Prem who helps out on weekends, Rakesh doles out hot and delicious stuffed aloo, palak and veg parathas too.
This is part of the media-legal think-tank DraftCraft International's The Food Report - Jan 2023 (Maharashtra) that was generated as part of The Public Health Project.
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