Snackathon Saturday

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Snackathon Saturday

Saturday Misha, Christine, and I went into town. Saturday's are shorter work days where the office closes at four so we can go into town for about four hours instead of the usual evening trip which lasts only an hour. From our village to town, it's about a 30-minute bus trip each way. While the driving itself is the same as all of the other roads and driving in India, the bus is really nice because it is run daily by our organization so usually there are a lot of people aboard that I know instead of random strangers.

We had errands to run in town - buying a few groceries like soap and fruit and things for our rooms, but our main goal on Saturday was to eat! Everyone around says that Berhampur is known for its food and the street vendors are always cooking up the most delicious looking things so we decided we would have a snackathon and eat all of the street vendor foods that looked like they wouldn't make us sick!

It was a great success since we didn't get sick at all! We sampled some fresh juices first and fresh juice here in India is so different from the juices I have had in America. Fresh apple juice in Manali was so fresh it had apple pulp in it! Who knew apples could even have pulp? I don't think I can ever go back to drinking Treetop after tasting that delicacy! Well these fresh juices were equally as delicious. Misha tried orange and I had pomegranate. We were leery of the water situation, since that is always something you have to take into account here. Christine speaks Hindi and translated for us that the water comes straight from the well for this stand so Misha and I decided to go for it. We're still not sure if that means it is safe at all and after spending some time this week studying water quality in the area I'm really not sure it is as clean as it sounded but, when in Berhampur... The juice was pulpy and fresh and wonderful!

Next stop? Somosas! We got our Somosas from the same stand where we have been getting our Jalabeis (the deep fried sugar dough pretzels we can't leave town without). The boy that works at the stand is only about 13 or so and each time we come and try to speak to him in Oriya or Hindi he just smiles and gives us this look that seems to be perfectly clear in all languages and means, "Oh great here are these crazy girls again." We had a piping hot Somosa and for good measure, a Jalebeis. Of course, yum!

Onward to the bakery! Recently there has been construction going on at the bakery and now that it is fully open there is a cakes and sweets counter and a savory side. We tasted paneer rolls, veg puffs, and an egg wrapped in puff pastry. Again, we discovered that India really doesn't go wrong with any kind of food!

Then on our way back to the bus stop we got a paneer pizza straight out of the oven. We had it wrapped and split it on the bus on the way home. Even pizza India does well! The sauce is a little spicier and this pizza was loaded with veggies and cheese and cooked on more of a pita bread than crust - different than home but so so good!

In other town visits these past two weeks we've also sampled the most amazing lassis: buttermilk, sugar, yogurt drinks with coconut and cashew crumbles on top- and dare I say, the crumbles on top are a better sweet topping than whipped cream! From the sweets shop we got a kind of sweet called barfie that is kind of like a coconut cookie wrapped around almond paste. Again...certainly not disappointing!! Lastly and perhaps most tasty of all street treats we've tried so far was a cabbage, carrot, and ginger pakora in green chili sauce. One word: yum.

In conclusion, everything in India is delicious. And those were only the "safest" looking ones! Pretty much all street treats are served on big leaves on top of newspaper so even the packaging is unique and cool! We have plans to go into town later this week with one of the staff at the office who promises to take us to all of the best food stalls in Berhampur! I'm particularly looking forward to a special kind of yogurt served in a clay pot and a special dish called chatt which is sort of a potato mash up with chutneys! Could it get any better than this snackathon?! We will dare to find out!!

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