Signature Foods
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I started my career in Mumbai in what seems like eons back. The city will always be seared in my memory for teaching the basic tenet of being a professional – being dependable. Mumbaikars will go to office in such pouring rain, that in any other city would be considered an emergency flood situation. But that is not why I remember Mumbai fondly.
Signature Foods
During one particularly lazy weekend, one of my friends told me that i have to go eat Bhel Puri at Vithal’s Bhel Puri shop near VT - considered to be foundational to the chat phenomenon that has taken over the country. Then the list extended slowly over time to Sardar Pav Bhaji, Haji Ali Juice Center, Karjat Vada Pav, Parsi Dairy Kulfi and so on..
Ever since, i have been on a quest to discover the “Signature Food” of every city of the world i visit. Once i went to Madurai (in Tamilnadu) and discovered Raja Barley’s Macroons – they have been making that stuff for 100 years now per the shop keeper. I was surprised to later find that many of my relatives who hail from Madurai had never heard of Raja Barley!
When we were in New Jersey, myself and my wife Priya Raju used to hunt down the signature foods whenever we could – H&R Bagels’ signature bagels, Lombardi’s Pizza…
What started this particular Signature Food trip down memory lane, was my recent visit to Pune where i made sure i brought a huge package of Chitale’s Bakarwadi. I also had a chance recently to visit Hyderabad and got the famous Karachi Biscuits for my family. Yummy stuff.
Googling
As is customary, i did some research to see if someone has talked about Signature Foods in detail. I found this excellent quiz on Signature Foods of various American Cities. I also chanced upon this nice article on the qualities of a Signature Food. On the whole, it appears, from the somewhat sparse Google results compared to other popular topics, Signature Foods aren’t top of the mind for people.
“Social” Signature Foods
As a passionate Social media advocate, i was thinking about how Social Media could make the quest for Signature Foods easier. Maybe one of the hot location startups like Foursquare, could introduce a new “Signature Food” feature, which will notify you of the city’s signature food(s) as soon as you check-in to any location in that city. Wouldn’t that be cool?
Epilog
What are your thoughts? What are your favorite signature foods? Which cities are those from? Please chime in.
I can only add a few from hearsay.
Closer to home, we have Thirunelveli Iruttu Kadai Halva, Srivilliputhur Milk Khoa, Ambur Biriyani, Tuticorin Macroons (don’t want to contradict you on yoru stuff, but Macroons are more closely associated there), Bikaneri Bhujia – from the state which was our second home for 7 semesters
Further away (most of this is from Discovery travel and living channel) – the $1000 signature pizza with toppings of 5 different caviar, the $1000 gold sundae ice-cream which has real gold foil and powder etc!
I can only add a few from hearsay.
Closer to home, we have Thirunelveli Iruttu Kadai Halva, Srivilliputhur Milk Khoa, Ambur Biriyani, Tuticorin Macroons (don’t want to contradict you on yoru stuff, but Macroons are more closely associated there), Bikaneri Bhujia – from the state which was our second home for 7 semesters
Further away (most of this is from Discovery travel and living channel) – the $1000 signature pizza with toppings of 5 different caviar, the $1000 gold sundae ice-cream which has real gold foil and powder etc!
Hope this makes sense?
Brilliant idea & will definitely help the visitors
Signature Food of Vadodara is ‘Makai / Lelo Chevdo’ 
I have a few, from hearsay.
Closer t home, we have Srivilliputhur Milk Khoa, Ambur Biriyani, Thirunelveli Iruttu Kadai Halva, Tuticorin Macroons (the Madurai stuff you mentioned may be special, but macroons are originally associated with Tuticorin), Bikaneri Bhujia, the famous Kolkata Rosogollas, the chips from kerala (local bananas / jackfruits, genuine local coconut oil for frying) Lucknowi biriyani, Hyderabadi biriyani, the parathas from Parathewali Gali in Delhi (near CHandni Chowk, I guess)
Leaving our shores, there are very few. One of them is the Ceylon parotta (though I have no clue what it has to do with ceylon or today’s Sri Lanka), The $1000 pizza with toppings of 5 of the most exclusive caviar, $1000 signature gold sundae ice cream (the last 2 courtesy discovery travel and living) – there are lots of other things I would do with $100 (or $2000)!!!
Hope this helps – or is there something else you are looking for?
On Disceovery travel and living, there is a program on specific days of the week at 3 PM, covering a particular item, For example, today was about icecreams, while I saw one about sandwiches , another about pizzas etc. Hope that will help your quest.
Giri
Great post to read on a rainy evening when I was thinking of eating something hot
Manapparai Murukku, Thirunelveli Halwa, Thoththukudi Macroons (you referred it as Madurai, I came to know from my mother that it is not the case! Others can validate…) and Jigardhanda from Madurai
Not sure from where Onion Pakoda originated from…
Your idea of implementing this in 4Square is great. Time being, I guess we can still use the ‘Tips’ option.
Now, I need to take my daughter to Velachery’s Signature food (according to her!) place – McD! (Only one in Chennai
)
Sukumar,
One obvious advantage of social media advertising here. I am new to Bombay and had no clue of Vithal pav bhaji, neither did anyone in my hostel here. Thanks to you, now I know.
Yummy Blog Sukumar. You should also consider writing about signature restaurants like MTR in Bangalore, Murugan Idli Kadai in chennai, the Gujarati restaurant you took us in Kolkata etc.
Excellent, For some reason, i could not continue the quest of finding signature foods in U.S.A like India. My theory is, we (Indians and other east world) very close to nature foods, meaning we use not-much-processed food ingredients, where here (U.S) everything well processed since all are processed in the same manner, all taste same
Ghewar ….made in jaipur, rajasthan. it must be a signature sweet i hope.
recently had a chance to taste and ever since keep suggesting to everyone..
Puthal …kind of karuppatti halwa., it is famous n ramnad, and predominantly made in keelakarai.
Bakarwadi..pune ..my favourite in your list.
Giri,
Thanks. Yes those are signature foods indeed. Maybe tuticorin macroons are more famous. But Madurai Raja Barley’s macroons are to die for.
I didn’t know about the 1000$ pizza or the 1000$ ice cream.
Thanks Gagrin. Is that Chevdo made of Corn Flakes? I think I’ve heard about it.
Thanks Mur. Giri has also commented that Tuticorin Macroons are more famous. I haven’t had the chance to try it yet.
I went to the Velachery McD’s last weekend with my daughter. She loved it. I agree it is Velachery’s signature food
Srinivas,
Yep. Social media is great at getting the word out. Make sure you don’t miss Mumbai’s signature foods I mentioned above.
Thanks Kumar. Yes those are signature foods too. I didn’t want to write about all of them. Maybe next time.
Subba,
Thanks. You have a point. However the various US cities do have many signature foods. The quiz I linked to has a good list. You may want to try those. India is a very old country filled with many regional cuisines. Therefore we may find more variety. I’m sure you have had the Chicago Deep Dish pizza from where you live. Yummy.
Samuel,
I haven’t had Ghewar or Puthal. Need to try them. Thanks.
Signature foods.. There is a typical Manglorean food by the name “Goli Baje” (Mysore Bonda called at a few places), “Neeru dose”. There is a ‘Benne dose’ from Davangere, ‘Ragi Mudde’ from north Karnataka. ‘Dharwad Peda’ form Dharwad, Maddur Wada’ Maddur, ‘Pathrode’ from southern Karnataka, dry jackfruit appalams from Mangalore/Udupi.
Lonawala Chikki, Indore namkeen – anyone from these places who goes home has to get these foods!
Hyderabad, as you mentioned had biscuits from Karachi bakery, ragada from Gokul Chat Bhandar at Koti, Paradise hotel Biryani (not sure, never tasted this as it was non veggie), a sweet by the name double ka meetha (made of bread, a typical Hyderabadi specialty), Irani chai at any of the hotels.
Puri-basundi from South Maharashtra is a personal favourite too.
Great post Sukumar. Feel excited thinking of all these foods.
Timely post for me – I was thinking about exactly the same idea last month when I was in India re-discovering some of the Signature Food places – I was thinking how to connect 4sq/Yelp and ‘social knowledge’ about yummy places talking of which, here are a few from my personal list -
Trivandrum:
-Sourashtra Restaurant (a hole in the wall) near Parthas – they serve only Puri Plates with a unique sabji combination and Masala Tea
-Tapioca(Yuca) with Fish Curry inside Chala Market, small restaurant with no name(2nd right turn from the east for side – ask locals)
-Kethel’s Chicken (now branded as Rahmania Chicken throughout Kerala)
-Shankarettan’s Chaayakada @ Kazhakuttom highway – for splendid vada’s and snacks. i am told even state ministers stop here for the evening break
Ernakulam:
-Pai Dosa’s (night only) near MG Road serving so many varieties of Dosa
-Kayees is famous for biriyani; Sani (near North) also has excellent biriyani for lunch
-Fort Cochin/Mattancheri – has a stretch where you get fresh fish fry
Calicut: Zains restaurant for all the north kerala / Malabar specialities
Excellent Sukumar, Great idea really. I always like to try signature foods but I really find it difficult to get the information about it. May be someone has to compile all the foods. May be even I would bring up a site where any one can share their signature foods per city. Even an Excel would do I guess….
Great post Sukumar. Most of you have been talking about Signature Foods with respect to shops. But there are instances where food has become the signature for the whole locality, district or city itself. Take example of sweets (you know how we bengalis love sweets). Think of langcha (a long elongated sweet) and you get to think about a place called Shaktigarh. Think about Sitabhog and Mihidana (kind of sweets) and you think of Burdwan in West Bengal. Similarly, think of Paav Bhaji and the first thing that comes to mind is Mumbai.
I think the recognition of food as a Signature Food sometimes helps us identify places rather than just individual shops. Of course there are certain shops which have taken the Signature Food of the region to all new heights with their best quality.
There is one signature food I can think of from my home town Tirunelveli is “Then Kuzhal Mittai” which most of the shops sell. I do not see it anywhere else in Tamilnadu….. and of course the famous “Iruttu Kadai Halwa” – The only halwa variety I like to eat.
Chidambaram’s Idly Gothsu(kathikai).
Chidambaram’s Idly Gothsu(kathikai).
Alampuzha payasam
Manaparai murukku
while i am reading your yummy post, there a program named “Highway on my plate” which is currently being aired NDTV good times – the show will give you a good insight on all fav foods all over India.. enjoyyyy
A good idea.
Here is my list:
Chittoor paalkova (a must if you pass Chittoor, AP)
Panruti Palapazham (in season)
Azhagar Koil Adai or Azhagar Koil Dosai (my recent discovery thanks to a Madurai native)
Rajasthan Dhoodh Peda
Hope I will get some I.K. halva in my next visit…
I agree that Macaroons would be Tuticorin’s signature food. For Madurai it should be Idli (it can be a signature food for any TamilNadu city I guess) and Jihar Thanda drink. Theni’s signature food would be oily parottas.
Biriyani seems to be the signature food for many cities – Ambur, Dindigul, etc.
Nice post. The social media idea is cool!
Srinivas,
I have tried Mysore Bonda and Neer Dosai at udupi restaurants in chennai. I haven’t tried the other ones except Lonavla Chikki.
Thanks Vivekananthan. Yes, a wiki might be a good idea to collect the information. Linking it to a location-based social network may be a good way to deliver the information, right?
Thanks Arunava. You make a good point. I guess at a point many signature foods of a certain region becomes popular, it becomes a cuisine by itself? Who can forget the KC Das shop in Kolkata – must go place for Rossogolla fans like me.
Celestine,
thanks. I have never had Then Kuzhal Mittai. I doubt there will be anyone in Tamilnadu who hasn’t had Iruttukadai Halwa.
Thanks Ram. I have had Manaparai Murukku but not the other ones.
Thanks Gokul. I haven’t seen that program you refer to. Will do next time.
Thanks Nagu. I haven’t had any of those yet. Looks like by the time commenting is finished on this post, i will have a zillion things i need to add to my to-eat list
Thanks Meenaks. Yes some others have also commented about Tuticorin Macaroons. i haven’t tried those. But Raja Barley Macroons are to die for.
You mentioned Mumbai and you did not mention Kirti vada pav near shivaji park in dadar? :O
Sacrilege. Vada pav’s would be Mumbai’s signature food I think.
following are a couple of my recommendations!
-Usal Pav would be Pune’s signature food.
-You HAVE to go to Jamnagar and have Ummiya’s bhajjiya. Awesome stuff.
-Gujarati thali at this place in Rajkot whose name eludes me. Will find out and tell you.
-Dhabelis at any road side shop on any highway in Gujarat.
-And there is this place in Surat which sells 100 (no kidding) different kinds of chaat. All different and all awesome. Quite famous in Surat
-And of course keera vadai at Karpagambal mess and the chilly parotta at Hot chips.
P.S: I loved the post but errr. Not a great post to put up when Priya is trying hard to diet!
. Its only bread crumbs for you from now Sukumar! 
Sukumar, I saw this board when I was driving by a local restaurant today: “Kumbakonam degree coffee available”. If I am not mistaken, Kumbakonam has as much to do with coffee, as Chennai has to do with cool weather
Somehow this “signature dish” continues to be popular in restaurants. I am curious to know what is the connection. Any info in this forum, by a more knowledgeable person, will help.
Thanks
Giri
Revs,
), you need to try the road side vada pav in prabhadevi. It is mindblowing. The shop owner proudly displays a photo of Jackie Shroff eating vada pav at the shop. Don’t miss this next time you are in Mumbai.
Sacrilege indeed. Good catch. How could i miss Kirti’s. I used to live in Dadar and was a regular there. However, if you are a true vada pavie (how do i like my coinage in the lines of food & foodie
Yes Usal Pav is good. We can also add Misal as another signature item of Pune. Keerai vadai in karpagambal mess belongs on the list definitely. Others on your list i need to try.
Now i know why Priya Raju isn’t reading my post and commenting on it.
Giri,
Yes i have seen that Kumbakonam degree coffee moniker as well. I need to find out the story behind it. Does anyone else on this blog know?
Love this post cause it talks about my favorite – food
. I’m a self confessed foodie and so I look forward to every opportunity to savor the local “Signature Foods”. I have not travelled much so I will not be able to talk about many places, but there are a few which stands out –
Tunday Kababi in Lucknow. I had a quick stop at this place while on my way to Delhi and beleive me, the only recommendation I carried into this city was to have kababs at Tunday. I ended up loving the food so much that I returned to Tundays thrice in the same day to taste everything that they offer.
Bhopal: heavenly poha jalebi’s served by the roadside stalls near by Jumerati Market. Dont know they make the poha so light, fluffy and flavorful
Will be back with more…
Thanks Ramesh. I haven’t had the good fortune of trying out the dishes you mention. Poha Jalebi sounds particularly enticing. Hope to try it one day. Look forward to more from you.
Sukumar, Just remembered this: From 2007, the Chennai Sangamam street festival has been bringing a few signature dishes, apart from the usual food from the standard restaurants. As you know, this happens in January – the best month of the year to go around CHennai.
Lets wait for Chennai Sangamam 2011 to see what it has to offer.
http://www.chennaisangamam.com/Story.html
Interesting posts Sukumar…I have heard of Raja Balery macroons …but never had a chance to eat it…but as others say I have eaten the tuticorin ones…But talking about Tuticorin…it is famous for Muscoth Halva which is famous there…Other interesting signature which i have tried include Pahala and Salepur Rasagollas in Orissa,Amritsari Kulcha in Amritsar.
Talking of Pune have u checked with Khayani Bakery near MG Road.They have some tasty biscuits….I would also include Agra Pedha …Ratna cafe sambhar….I also remember chinese food in China town in Calcutta which is the orgin for all Indian chinese foods…some of Biriyani joints in Hyderabadi….
I am not sure if it can be included as signature but saltless prasadam of Upliappam temple in Kumbakonam.
I would suggest the program hosted by Rocky and Mayur “Highway on the plate ” in NDTV which showcases the signature dishes in different cities.
You have me, who runs in search of the best local dish available where ever i go !!
Chennai itself has so many signature dish
1.Aatukaal paya with idiyappam.
2. Red rice puttu
3.Paneer soda
4.Uppu kozhakattai
5.Vazhakkai chops
6. Railway mutton curry.
7. Burmese cuisine in annai sivagami nagar
8. iyenggar’s bakery
9.Gulab jamun behind india silk house
10. mint street has so many, cheena’s oothapam, khader bai badam milk
Madurai
Paruthi paal,
jigarthanda,
panangkarkandu paal
thenkulal
Evening mutton stall
Kottu parotta (usilampatti)
sevu (usilmpati)
Amma mess (will burn hole in ur pocket)
Kovil Patti Kadalai Mittai
Prema Vilas Halwa
Vaigai mess, out post Tallakulam (Oppsite to canara bank ATM which is on the way to k.k.nagar (nv)
Venu’s Briyani ,dindukal
Tava, 7 road junction. Outstanding Sindhi food, express service kodaikanal
Tibetan Brothers – PT Road. Your slice of Tibet in Kodai.
Ayyanar sweets and snacks thiruthangal road sivakasi
Andal Thirukalyanam & palkova (cooperative society ) srivilliputtur
paniyaram in dharmapuri bus stand
Mangoes (plenty of variety )
Thanjavur devar biriyani
pakodewalas who sell pakoda, Bhajji ,Egg bonda with spicy chutney. near yercaud lake
kingstar bakery- varkis .. ooty
Coimbatore
Angannan’s, Rayappas and Thalappas for lunch (do not miss)
subbu mess (dinner) near railway station
Ajmir, Near TownHall ManiKundu. excellent mutton,beef and chicken Dont forget to taste their mutta poriyal and chicken fry.
patti Amma Dosai Kadai, Near Gem Hospital or archana theater.. butter appam don miss it.
Burma Bai Barotta Kadai, Nehru staduim (Near Boomerang Ice cream).their speciality is barotta that can be made crispy or softy depending upon the user wish. pepper chicken and tomato chicken . evening time only
Thoottukudi macroon .. Fruit mix juice, Dried Ginger water, vazhaipalam halwa
Kovilpatti Kadalaimittai!!
Take a walk around Othavadai Street Mahabaliouram ul love it.
I will put my kerala, bangalore n goa known things nxt time
Fantastic post, Sukumar.
If anyone is in Chandigarh, try- cholle bhathura from any of the Sindhi Sweets shops
If you are in Amritsar, Punjab- try falooda Kulfi ( Must try- you would never find such falooda Kulfi anywhere else in India)….
If driving on NH1 and passes through Murthal (near Delhi) do try any of the Dhabas in for Tandoori Paranthas or just any other food…they are just yummy…
In US, could not find many vegetarian dishes….but Spinach Puff from le Madeline, Veg Kung Pao from Big Bowl and ice creams from Cold Stone are just too good…
If anyone knows good signature “vegetarian foods” in US, pls let me know.
Giri,
yes. Chennai Sangamam did feature some signature foods. I loved the idea. I could taste Manapparai Murukku through that event.
Thanks Karthik. I haven’t tried most of the ones you mention. Yes ratna cafe’s sambar idli definitely is a signature food of chennai. It is too good.
Raj,
Thanks a lot
That is a huge list of signature foods you produced. It is going to be a long time before i cover just your list
Meenu,
Thanks. I haven’t been to Amritsar or Chandigarh. US has a huge list. You should try Ethiopian cuisine – plenty of vegetarian food and it is a lot closer to Indian food. Try Thai food also. Lombardi’s Pizza, Chicago Deep Dish pizza, H&R bagels in NYC. There is also a lot of Lebanese food. If you are in NJ, goto the Arab Street in Paterson – plenty of great Lebanese food and desserts. Ven Pongal in Flushing Meadows Ganesh Temple is a must have.
Excellent post sukumar..
When i of signature foods, immediately, Mysore Pahu and iyengar bakery comes to my mind..
The madurai parota is famous for its softness.. i realised it when i was staying in bangalore..
Apart from signature food, if we look at signature products, we have very huge list of products in india to enumerate.. The example i could recall immediately is Kanchipuram Silks and Mysore Silks..
Signature products (including foods) are a reflection of social enterprenuership that our society has. I wish, such signature foods be protected from market invasion..
WoW! Thanks so much Sukumar…will definitely try these out….
Senthil,
Thanks. I’m sure some of these will die because such businesses never figure out how to transfer their knowledge to the next generation. I know several signature foods, native medicines, grandma recipes die out because we in India are unable to figure this out. this is happening not because of cultural imports from other countries (it maybe a factor) but our inability to scale a business or an idea.
Talking of bombay I forgot to mention chill flavored icecream near Wankhede stadium…..
Thanks Karthik. Chilly flavored ice-cream sure sounds interesting. Haven’t tried it.
Sorry to join the party late (pun intended), but in US, I can think of New York Delis and their eggplant dishes and their cheese cake, Chicago deep dish pizza, Texas style barbecue, New Orleans Jambalaya (and Bubba Gump Shrimp), New England Clam Chowder, Maine Lobster, and California crabs.
Thanks Ganesh. Yes those are signature foods indeed.
Thanks for this sukumar. You should also share any signature foods in chennai!
On the social media front, I read reviews and check out restaurants in the city on burrp.com, I think that would be the ideal place to mark a restaurant/eatery as a signature eatery automatically if it gets upvoted by say a minimum of n-people in the burrp community or something like that.
P.S: Have been ignoring google reader for quite sometime now. I am glad I got back to it soon. Lots of comments, looks like everybody has an opinion when it comes to food! Now to collate/aggregate and note it down for the future.
Sukumar:
Visiting your blog after a very long time and realized that I have plenty of catch up reading to do.
Here are a couple of contributions from my native state of Kerala.
1) Ramaserri Idly – Ramaserry is a village in Palakkad near the Tamil Nadu border and the idly from this place is very tasty. The peculiarity is that the idly is steamed in clay pots. More details can be found in the following link that I got from Google.
http://www.peppertrail.com/php/displayContent.php3?link_id=191
2) Ambalapuzha Pal Payasam – You have to drink it to explain the taste difference. This is available after 12 Noon everyday in Krishna Temple at Ambalapuzha a small town in Alleppey district. There is a local legend about this pal payasam. Once there was a king who was a chess enthusiast and ended up playing against Krishna who came in front of him as a saint. The king who was overconfident of winning the game asked the saint about his bet in the event the king loses the game. The bet put forth by the saint was very simple. Just one grain of rice in the first square of the chess board and doubling it in geometric progression for each of the remaining squares. The king grossly underestimated the quantity of rice which is 2^64 – 1 (2 to the power 64 – 1) grains of rice and ended up losing the game to the saint. So the pal payasam is made as an offering in the temple on behalf of the king as a part of paying his debt to the saint.
I am sure many other Signature foods may have such interesting stories behind it. Thank you for this wonderful post and enjoy all those yummy foods!
We are preparing to put up the world’s biggest food festival called “Annabrahma” in Ahmedabad next year. It will comprise of all the signature dishes of India – from across the length and breadth of the country. So do, come and enjoy three days of feasting. Will publish more details when I have them.
/** I’m sure some of these will die because such businesses never figure out how to transfer their knowledge to the next generation. I know several signature foods, native medicines, grandma recipes die out because we in India are unable to figure this out
**/
These knowledge transform from father to son for all these thousands of years.. but after education system was introduced, this transfer of knowledge was cut down.. Rajaji tried to preserve these knowledge by bringing kula kalvi as part of school activity.. But people with ideological blindness thwarted his attempt.. Neither these knowledge was brought to educational syllabus.. as a result, numerous simple sidha medications was gradually lost in front of my own eyes.. Many musical arts that were once part of temple activity was lost..
The primary duty of every nation is to protect these native knowledge from market invasion.. in india, we failed as a nation to protect these.. in the coming future, there would be nothing indian, except for market and money..
Excellent post Sukumar.
From my hometown Nellore, one cannot but accept “puli bongaram with Kaaram Chutney”. It is a roadside fare with awesome taste. And the same note, Karam Dosa near Radha Cinema Hall (they say that when IT folks raided the guys house, they got 1 crore worth of unaccounted income – now you can imagine how much demand he has), Rajasthan Lassi in Trunk Road, Komala Vilas meals (unlimited of course).
At Ananatapur where I studied, Uggani Dosa on Subash Road near Pathuru and Uggani with Cut Mirchi Bajji (Recipe here http://bit.ly/bc9dzn)
And at Hyderabad – nobody should miss Biriyani with Mirchi-ka-Salan or Bagara Baingan. I would go nowhere but to Paradise Restaurant (address- of course, Paradise Circle).
Chennai – I remember Srini Mangadu (my ex-manager a decade back) and I exploring different restaurants in Singara Chennai for signature foods and many are already covered above. Both were food lovers and both used to work for half day on Saturdays as a rule.
Senthil – is there a way to preserve our heritage and culture, without keeping it a family vocation. I see many family run businesses around – still flourishing, if they are financially viable. But certain vocations, if the kids learn only that, will be starving for the rest of their lives. And the reason – nothing to do with the profession. With the modern inventions, cannot simply sustain the market. (and certain vocations are outright exploitation. I dont think it will be of great cultural thing to clean others excretions/ burn corpses..however glamorous it might be for few people and however much native knowledge it might have)
Mouth watering post Sukumar. It remided me of my favorite signature food, the Mirchi Bajji from Hyderabad. It is one of a kind and absolutely delicious.
@vamsi
/**Senthil – is there a way to preserve our heritage and culture, without keeping it a family vocation. I see many family run businesses around – still flourishing, if they are financially viable. But certain vocations, if the kids learn only that, will be starving for the rest of their lives. And the reason – nothing to do with the profession. With the modern inventions, cannot simply sustain the market.
**/
It will be a heritage, only as long as it remains a family business. Else, it will be just any other business.
Btw why there is so much opposition to anything family oriented?
Family run business are always financially viable, because, the family members do not work for salary, but have a common stake in it. So they persist in it, whether its profit or loss.
The problem here is NOT with family profession.. but extreme apathy, and hostility towards unorganised family businesses, by government.
The IT industry today thrives, because of heavy government support, in terms of tax concession, infrastructure support, legal support, and administrative support. Few years before, when dollar rate dropped to 39 rupees, Nasscom lobbied the government and the dollar was artificially hyped up.
Why we did not advocate the free market at that time? When it comes to our own survival, we need government to step in.
Can you please point out any single step or policy that this indian government right from independance had taken to support local industries?
When big IT companies itself could not survive without government support, how can those local industries?
Senthil
I am not against family businesses. Some family businesses thrive and some cannot as they have no natural relevance in modern times. Upward mobility is something every human being will look for. If a given field does not provide an opportunity, we cannot expect them to stick to that field. Government is not an answer. My understanding is that Rupee is free floating currency and it’s value is not a pegged value against USD or BP.
I think it is to do with the very fact that the family run businesses which need lot of skill needs a great amount of practice. In olden days with village centric economy, it was perhaps sustainable (rather there may be no other alternatives – lack of transportation, communication, exposure etc). Now with modern times, it is pretty hard.
Leave that, and think of a doctor, a supposed to be lucrative career and skilled profession. Do you know the starting salary of an MBBS doctor if he were to be practicing private without any family backing/ father’s practice? I personally know some MBBS doctors jealous of their school friends in IT because it helps them settle fast. Of course by the time they come to retirement age, there will be huge difference.
Also think of Ayurvedic Medicine – a Kerala doctor versus an AP doctor. Kerala Ayurvedic doctors became a brand name and commercialized, entered into tourism space as an add on service. But AP Ayurvedic doctors could not. In both cases Govt is not directly in picture.
Anyway, I think, as usual, we are quite off topic. Let us keep this thread to delicious part of the equation.
@vamsi
When these professions had sustained for thousands of years, why all of sudden, it becomes unsustainable in past few decades?