Mahanth S. Joishy is Editor of usindiamonitor

After a couple of morbidly depressing posts that leaned a tad hard toward the apocalyptical political situations we find ourselves in at the confluence of multiple, global, deadly catastrophes here in 2022, it’s high time to lighten things up. After all, I strive for balance here. I am also striving to post more often. If nothing else, posting stuff online that people might read or watch is therapeutic in my case, just like chopping vegetables during meal prep.

Speaking of soothing and therapy and meals, there are several figurative spaces and places I have gone to since the pandemic started to calm myself down. Food can also bring all peoples together! One of these is my obsession with watching videos of street side food carts in India making delicious egg dishes. Yes, we can call this the “Egg Dish Obsessions.” Yes- believe me, these videos are very fascinating to watch and learn from. Yes, it is totally worth it, because (little known fact!) India over time has quite simply mastered how to make the best manners of fried eggs, omelets, scrambles, custards and variants thereof in hundreds of varieties thanks to centuries of tinkering with the boring bland breakfasts the bloo’ey Brits introduced to South Asia, perhaps as much an affront to my ancestors’ sensibilities as the colonial yolk itself was (bun intended!) There are, no joke, HUNDREDS of such Indian Egg videos on YouTube and hundreds of thousands of such stalls and restaurants dedicated entirely to eggs, operating from North to South India, not including the millions of Indian households frying up a fragrant batch of eggs in pure ghee or coconut oil this very second. But I, dear reader, have found a video for you that might explain the subcontinental obsession in a way that will make sense to you if it doesn’t already. Not just on how to jazz up the humble egg with bunches of buttered puns, chilies, cheeses, ginger, garlic, pepper, onions, spices, tomatoes, cilantro, etc. but several other tasty Mumbai treats in the video that made me salivate and almost cry.

Well-spiced and seasoned “Indian omelets” are actually highly personal to me. Not only because my Dad taught me how to make perfect ones, the very first thing I learned to cook at age 12. That same (sorry, secret) recipe was used thousands of times by me for almost 11 years, in a professional paid government capacity no less, while I ran monthly official awards breakfast ceremonies at NYC Parks headquarters, The Arsenal. A college intern dubbed them “Mahamlets” and no joke, they became really infamous. They would be fried up for 20 or more guests at a time, each one made exactly to order with full eggs or whites-only, the ensuing products inevitably smoking up and adding strong and possibly unwelcome fragrances (think lots of onions frying) to the entire Arsenal Gallery all morning (if weather forced the breakfast inside from NYC’s most gorgeous rooftop, pictured above) as it wafted through spaces where non-awards ceremony visitors to the public museum or Parks office workers frequented. They might have hated me if they learned the source of olfaction. The bottom of the napkin, top of the line calculation is 20 omelets per month for 125 months= 2,500 in that professional capacity alone, adding to at least once a week in my substantial Mahamlet personal life (I even made them to great aplomb at dinner parties or dates I hosted) for well over 3,000 in that period of my life alone, each one perfectly delicious if I do say so myself.

Back to the video- it’s coming don’t worry. Our clever and willing guide to this episode of Mumbai hardcore XXX food pornography today, covering both common street food and exclusive, expensive restaurant fare is Trevor James, AKA The Food Ranger, an affable dude from Canada who easily slides in and out of dozens of countries eating all manner of food from the mundane to the extreme, the cheap to the expensive, speaking local tongues and chowing down on everything along the way with comfort and ease, like he belongs just where he is. He is one of the spiritual heirs to Anthony Bourdain’s legacy (RIP) indeed. Trevor also has his own signature sounds of pleasure. Enjoy this video- and feel free to keep roving with Trevor James throughout India and the rest of the world!