Eat and walk, all for inclusivity

Neeta Kolhatkar

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On your next visit to Mumbai, don’t do the obvious. Ditch the Elephanta Caves, the Gateway of India, the National Park… For, there is a whole lot of places waiting to be explored and these places are best known through food.

The food walks in Mumbai are evolving rapidly with locals, especially those who know the bylanes of the city and places where you get authentic food, conducting them. So flavours, as diverse as possible, are interspersed with local history, stories, myths, origins of food, the communities which specialise in them and, most of all, the importance of these communities to the city’s growth.

Ketan Vaidya, a former journalist who conducts Musafir Walks, focuses on Maharashtrian food and Muslim areas. The walk begins in Bohri Mohalla and ends at Do Taaki police station. “There are a lot of identity markers that don’t feature in our oral or written history. Like the Mahim Halwawala that has been in the business for nine generations! They started 236 years ago and have now become integral to the Koli community,” Vaidya states.

However, with the city growing at an unforeseen pace, these stories have remained undocumented. Bharat Gothaskar, proprietor of Khaki Tours, conducts food walks at Mohammed Ali Road and around Chowpatty. A recent introduction is Chembur Chow, which covers foods brought in by the immigrant communities in Chembur.

“This city has always respected diversity and food is its best reflection. On our food walks, we illustrate to people how the term ‘Muslim food’ is an aberration. There is nothing like Muslim food — it could be Bohri or Sunni food. And then people have this preconceived notion that Dongri is unsafe; it is where underworld thrived… We want to break this myth through our walks. The area is steeped in history and its contribution to India’s freedom movement is tremendous. We do all this while introducing participants to new foods,” says Gothaskar.

Another organiser, Roxanne Bamboat, has been introducing people to Zoroastrian communities that settled here before independence. “Popular Irani cafés are integral to Mumbai and Pune cities, but people don’t seem to know of these. I often meet people who read my name and wonder if I am Indian. Sometimes I am offended, but then I realise it is my job to educate them,” shares Bamboat, who does this through Irani food. In fact, two Spanish ladies who had signed up for the walk shared their surprise at with Irani food being integral to India’s heritage. “I thought we would eat Indian food, but it was nice to try out food from Iran and other places,” says Mariza.

Ravi Chaure, tour manager with Thomas Cook, who attended Vaidya’s walk, says he was reminded of the Middle East. “The atmosphere was lively, somewhat resembling the markets in Cairo and Turkey… We ate at different places and food was served by people from different communities — ice cream by Bohris, sweets by Ahmaddiya Muslims and the main course by a Sunni restaurant owner. All this negativity we read and hear of is only in politics, there is no hatred when we eat together. In fact, I don’t eat beef and the restaurant owner was not offended. We are now friends,” says Chaure.

Interestingly, some diabetologists and nutritionists too are now taking these walks as these help them plan diets as per ethnic food. “I go on these walks to understand the food patterns of various communities and help my patients plan their diets around their traditional cuisines. For example, I realised that sanja or upma, which is a common breakfast, can be made from sprouts too,” says Manisha Talim, a diabetologist. “A diet planned around traditional cuisines is more effective,” she says.