What do people eat in India?
It depends on the region: rice, dosa and sambar in the south, roti, dal and vegetable curries in the north, and chai all through the day. About 4 in 10 Indian adults are vegetarian.
Typical dishes and their calories
Breakfast
Breakfast changes with the region. In the south it is idli or dosa with sambar and coconut chutney, about 190 kcal for two idli with sambar. In the north people eat paratha, a flaky flatbread often stuffed with potato, with butter, yoghurt and pickle. Poha, flattened rice with onion and peanuts, is common in the west, and nearly everyone has a cup of chai.
Lunch
Lunch is around 13:00 and is often a thali, a round plate with small bowls of dal, a vegetable dish, yoghurt and pickle, plus rice and roti. Many people take a tiffin, a stacked metal lunchbox from home. In Mumbai the dabbawalas deliver around 200,000 of them to offices every working day.
Dinner
Dinner is usually between 20:00 and 21:30 and looks a lot like lunch: roti or rice, dal and one or two sabzi, the everyday vegetable dishes. A bowl of dal is about 230 kcal. Meat dishes such as biryani, around 550 kcal a plate, are more common in some regions and at weekends or celebrations.
Starters
Indian meals are not served in courses, everything comes to the table at once. Snacks like pakora, vegetables fried in chickpea batter, papad and samosa, about 250 kcal each, are eaten with chai in the late afternoon or handed round to guests and at weddings.
Desserts
Sweets are called mithai and belong to festivals like Diwali, when boxes of them are given as gifts. Gulab jamun, fried milk balls in syrup, is about 150 kcal a piece. Rasmalai, jalebi and kheer, a rice pudding with cardamom, are other favourites. After a meal many people chew fennel seeds or a paan.
Drinks
Chai is the daily drink: black tea boiled with milk, sugar and spices like cardamom and ginger, about 90 kcal for a 150 ml cup. In the south filter coffee with milk is just as common. Lassi, a yoghurt drink served sweet or salted, and nimbu pani, fresh lime with water, help in the heat.
Street food
Street food is eaten all day. Pani puri are crisp hollow balls filled with spiced water, chickpeas and potato, eaten in one bite. Mumbai has vada pav, a spiced potato fritter in a soft bun, around 300 kcal. Chaat, samosa and a small glass of chai from a chaiwala are on almost every busy corner.
Normal there, odd elsewhere
Many Indians eat with the right hand, mixing rice and dal with the fingertips. In the south a meal can be served on a banana leaf. Cutting chai, half a glass of tea, is a normal order because people drink several a day, and plenty of households are vegetarian and never cook meat at home.