Blogger Kalyan trails best of Indian street food in his book

From tamarind water phuchkas selling on the dingy lanes of North Kolkata and Jaipur’s famous daal-baati churma, to old Delhi’s spicy aloo chaat and Lucknow’s wide range of kebabs, the best of India’s street food features in a new book that takes the readers on a virtual food hunt through every nook and corner of the country.

Titled The Travelling Belly the book penned by food blogger Kalyan Karmakar is a delectable journey across 11 Indian cities, as the writer highlights the typical snacks of different regions, often giving an insight into the preferred taste palette of the locals, the popular cuisines in the area and sometimes also the spices used to get that characteristic flavour.

Having grown up in Kolkata and lived in Mumbai for several years now, it was only natural that the author would offer an extensive list of munchies from these two cities. Karmakar’s book is only another addition to the glorious legacies of Mishti Doi from Bhim Chandra Nag, K C Das’ roshogollas and sondesh, who have been already extensively written about for being the pioneers in making the beloved sweet treats from eastern India.

The city of joy also has enough tablespoons of spice to balance the sweetness out with Maharani’s “crisp freshly fried kochuri with an aloo curry”. From Mumbai, he has written about the more famous Leopold Cafe, Cafe Churchill and Cafe Mondegar, but his love for Iranian restaurants strewn across the city comes across as heartfelt.