Indian Snacks

INDIAN SNACKS, CONFECTIONERY, BREADS, KEBABS, BIRIYANIS

INDIAN SNACKS

Snacks add variety to the usual meal consumed. They give a good amount of contribution towards varied textures and flavours in-between meals.

Characteristics of Snacks:

1. Nourishing and contributes their share of needed nutrients during the day.

2. They are eaten generally between meals.

3. They are a major media of entertainment e.g. clubs, bars.

4. They are very popular among children and contributes to their major diet.

A snack is a simple dish which is eaten invariably between meals. It can be wholesome, nourishing, delectable and easily prepared and stored. Snacks are useful if one has no time for a regular lunch. Children are often in need of extra food to help them maintain their high rate of activity; snacks are often called “Finger Food” eaten without much ado as at lunch or dinner.

Indians are compulsive nibblers. They constantly need a ‘fix’ of snacks to satisfy their ‘habit’. It is not unusual to eat one full meal and gobble snacks for the rest of the day. Until a few years ago, it was considered ‘unhealthy’ to eat out. An exception was made in the case of snacks. Little wonder, then, that this nation boasts of an astonishing range of minor delicacies. Unlike in the West, where it is customary to offer tea, coffee, or a drink when a guest drops in, Indians look for an excuse to offer you a snack with a cuppa – it’s a part of our hospitable tradition. Almost the entire range of Indian snacks were – and still are – vegetarian. Perhaps this, too, had something to do with a mistrust of the kind of meat used in the market. Not any more. Murgh Pakora, Kheema Samosa, etc., are recent innovations. There is even Kheema Doasai! The number of non vegetarian snacks, however, still remains small. Regionwise, they find greater favour in the more ‘carnivorous’ North. The Kheema Dosai is surely the ‘creation’ of some upcountry chef. Ajwain is the pre-eminent spice in North Indian...