GUTTER CHICKEN: The Punjabification of food

Have we lost all self-esteem about our food? Or have our tongues and palates become ridiculously cosmopolitan in the globalised era?

Vishweshwar Bhat, the executive managing editor of Vijaya Karnataka, says that for his father’s tithi oota recently, the caterers said they would recommend a “fast-moving item”.

And what was that? Gobi Manchurian. Yes, Gobi Manchurian, or Gobi Manchuri as it is called on the streets.

Is there any hope for our food—the one component of our culture that touches everybody—in face of this relentless Punjabification of our cuisine?

Forget Kannada Rakshana Vedike, what we really need is a Kannada Thindi-Ooota Rakshana Vedike.