Walking through Chennai’s Mint Street on any given weekend before the pandemic would have painted a familiar scene for many — noisy crowds, migrants from all over the country going about their daily lives, shops selling an array of fabrics, with shiny lace hung from their windows. But for Sundar Ganesan, 31, the Sowcarpet neighbourhood will always be tied to one thing in his mind: the murukku sandwich.
Sundar first tasted the bite-sized snack — with two pieces of crispy murukku with sliced onions, tomatoes and cucumber between them, and a dash of tangy spices — in 2013 when he returned to his hometown of Chennai after spending many years living in other states. His experience was so memorable that he brought his friends to taste the snack, and to explore other eateries in Sowcarpet. In 2018, Sundar conducted his first organised food walk in the neighbourhood.
It’s not uncommon to find these groups crowding around small eateries, chatting amongst themselves in cities across India. For them, a trip to Mint Street or Mylapore isn’t about shopping. Food can work as a window into the lives, culture and regional flavours of a particular place, and it's through food tours that more and more people are learning to discover the history of a city, market or street through its fare.
In the last decade or so, south cities such as Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad have also begun to develop food walks in both popular and unknown areas, offering a glimpse of local cuisine and history to local residents and tourists.
“Food walks as a culture in India originated in the north — Delhi, Lucknow, Indore etc — which are famous for their street food culture,” says V Sriram, a Chennai-based historian and a heritage activist.
In Chennai, where food walks started around 10-15 years ago, these tours are often centred around a locality — Mint Street (also broadly known as Sowcarpet), Mylapore, West Mambalam, Old Mahabalipuram Road — or around a theme — biriyani, shawarmas, tea and snacks. “Basically, you kind of jostle your way amidst the crowd and keep stopping at various places to taste the food and if the guide is very good, then you will have some fantastic stories about the place, about that kitchen etc. By the time you finish, you are quite full. It is very entertaining,” Sriram explains.
Chennai's Mint Street (Pic: Arun Christopher)
Once Sundar started his food walks, he began bringing colleagues from northern states who were homesick along with him. And of course, to try his beloved murukku sandwich.
“The first time I went to Sowcarpet, I could feel the vibes of Delhi's Chandni Chowk. That's where you can listen to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge songs, and see people on cycle rickshaws. I felt home there because I spent a few years growing up in Gujarat as well. And I was mind-blown by the taste [of the murukku sandwich] and the entire concept. It was ingenious,” he told TNM.
Sundar started his tours by putting out a call on Twitter and taking groups on walks along the lanes of Mint Street. Now, he has structured his tours in such a way that his groups move from the southern part of the country and work their way up north through the eateries they visit.
“Every time I post on Twitter, many people would respond. We used to start from Central Station and then walk to Mint Street. I share my experiences regarding food there and how it all started. The walk usually ends at a paan shop. There are different shops where you get different regions’ food items,” he explains.
In Bengaluru, food tours are popular in areas like VV Puram (for chaats), Commercial street, Shivaji Nagar and Jayanagar (for crispy dosas and coffees). 30-year-old Tejovanth has been organising food walks in Bengaluru for a few years now. He started after making a list of dosa joints in the city that went viral.
The process of curating a food tour is similar for many — they largely go by personal experience. “I check the place out with a couple of friends. If I like it, I experiment with a few other groups and if they give me a positive response, I include it in my list,” says Tejovanth, whose food walk was listed on AirBNB as an ‘experience’ in Bengaluru before the pandemic struck.
In Chennai, a typical food walk includes nine to 11 outlets — 12-14 dishes — and lasts about two hours. “Apart from the quality of food, what also matters is how well it fits with the structure of the walk. There might be a shop that's good in the food department but is way too outside the trajectory of the walk. You can't make people walk a lot either. The first question people ask is 'How far should one walk during the event,’" Sundar points out.
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Tasty, fresh jalebis on Mint Street (Pic: Kichas Photography)
A key aspect of these tours is not just the food but how it ties into the history of the locality itself. But in Chennai, there is often a lack of adequate history behind the dishes or neighbourhoods, or guides who do not take the effort to research them.
“The problem here is we don't have any street food places with a very long history behind it. The walks people have here are majorly north Indian street food and not local food. If there is some meat fare like Burmese food, paaya etc, it might be interesting. But many people who have been on such walks tell me that there is no story. The person just takes them on the walk, eats and comes back. There is no tale,” Sriram laments.
He points out that places like Madurai have a far richer foundation to celebrate local cuisine and small eateries. “In Chennai, eating out is a very recent phenomenon. Only in the past 30 years or so have people been eating out. There is a demand for street food now. Earlier it didn't exist. Madurai, however, has a huge history of street food. There, it comes alive. Madurai is very unique in that respect. Chennai pales in comparison,” he says.
Food tourism, small eateries and street food however took a major hit due to the pandemic. With restrictions on shop hours to hygiene, crowding and physical distancing, curators of food walks are staying cautious. While Sundar is gradually resuming his food tours almost a year after he suspended it due to COVID-19, Tejovanth has not yet thought of organising one. “Post COVID, there will be an increased focus on hygiene of the food and the general environment of these outlets. I hope things go back to normal soon,” Tejovanth says.
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