Foodiestan Pune – Memories of Cookery Legacy

A few days ago we went to see a movie at City Pride Satara Road Pune, and since there was some time for the movie to start, we decided to take a stroll and suddenly I saw a board saying: “Today’s Special - Dahi Ice Cream”. 

We entered Gujar Mastani House and I straightaway ordered Dahi Ice Cream while my less adventurous wife ordered her favourite Bajirao Mastani. 

The moment I put the first spoon of Dahi Ice Cream in my mouth my mind harked back to relish Dahi Ice Cream served by Bua in the heart of the city. 

Ice Cream is always a special treat, and there are four  famous Ice Cream Parlours in the city, each with its Signature Flavour – Bua for unique Dahi (Curds) Ice Cream which I have not tasted anywhere else in India, Ganu Shinde for its inimitable Amba ( Mango) Ice Cream and Kaware for its unmatched green Pista Ice Cream and ofcourse Sujata Mastani House for its peerless mastani’s. 

Sujata's Mastani

All these places served churned ice cream (made in a similar way to the “pot” ice cream we made at home).

Like Dahi Ice Cream, Pune had many signature dishes which could be called the heritage cuisine of Pune. 

If you wanted to relish the inimitable Non-Veg Puneri Cuisine like Mutton Rassa with Poli or Bhakri you went to Asara Bhojanalaya in Shukrawar Peth or to Jeevan on Tilak Road or Poonam in Deccan Gymkhana. 

Asara has shut down, Jeevan has metamorphosed into Grahak Peth Departmental Store and Poonam is now a pure vegetarian hotel. 

Sweet Home, on Kumthekar Road, which was famous for its Upaasachi SabudanaKhichadi and Piyush seems to have vanished 

Upaasachi Sabudana Khichadi 

Places like Bedekar (the original Puneri Misal joint) and Santosh Bhuvan are fast becoming relics of the past and so are the numerous khanawals and bhojanalayas in the heart of the city which are dying a slow death because of dwindling patronage. 

With the proliferation of Kolhapuri and Malvani eateries all over the city I wonder whether you get assal Puneri Non-Vegetarian Cuisine anymore? 

While Shreyas and Durvankur are still going strong, slowly but surely, Gujarati and Rajasthani Thali restaurants are outnumbering Maharashtrian Thali restaurants.

Bedekar's Misal

 In the Pune I once knew, legacy cuisine was not restricted to Maharashtrian Cuisine – it also included all sorts of dishes from various cultures which were unique to Pune. Like Shrewsbury Biscuits from Kayani Bakery, the inimitable Chinese Dishes served byKamling on East Street, Dorabjee’s Biryani and Parsi Food, those delectable Mutton Samosas at Naaz, West End’s Soda Fountain – so many places, many of whom could not withstand the cookery invasion. 

You had a number of Irani Restaurants, most of whom have shut down, except for Good Luck which is still going strong. It is rewarding to see so many pretty young things (PYTs) from the nearby colleges thronging to Good Luck which in yesteryear Pune was strictly an all-male preserve.

One of the saddest days of my life was when I noticed a coffee shop in the place of my beloved Naaz. 

Latif, another heritage restaurant on East Street, also seems to have shut down. 

Chitale's Bakar Wadi

A few places are still stoically holding out, some even flourishing, like Chitale (for its matchless Amba Barfi and Bakar Wadi), Kayani Bakery, The Place (the birthplace ofsizzlers) on Moledina Road next to Manney’s (which too is downing its shutters),Burger King and many more, but many heritage eateries have found it difficult to withstand the Cookery Cultural Invasion from the “Tandoori Chicken and Paneer Makhani” North and “Idli Sambar, Dosa, Uttapam” South, and now, with the increasing “metropolization” of Pune, we have an overwhelming onslaught of international cuisine as well.

Pune was once a pensioners paradise. Pune always welcomed persons from all over but everyone who settled down here and made Pune their home smoothly and harmoniously blended into the culture of Pune. 

It was the rapidly proliferating IT Boom which began in the late 1990s which suddenly altered the demographics of Pune and started transforming Pune into a faceless metropolis. As a result of this, Pune’s unique cookery culture was overwhelmed as restaurants opened to cater to the huge number of upwardly mobile techies who yearned for pizzas, burgers and pastas and popular national and international cuisines. 

The opening of private educational institutes and the concomitant influx of a large number of well-to-do students from all over India and abroad has also contributed to this cultural transmutation of Pune. 

Thus, today you find Punjabi, South Indian, Bengali, Gujarati, Kolhapuri, Malvani and a variety of International cuisines proliferating rapidly to the detriment of Puneri Cuisine and the unique signature dishes of Pune are slowly but surely disappearing. 

Having exotic sounding insipid Coffees at one of those coffee shop chains seems to be the “in thing” rather than relishing a rejuvenating cup of Puneri Amrutatulya Tea (Chaha).

Slowly but surely, all this “globalization” and “liberalization” is killing the identity of Pune and destroying its cookery legacy. 

The way things are going, soon Pune will be like any other faceless metropolis. 

You can already see this happening in some localities, especially in the suburbs.

Ask any youngster about eating out and they will tell you that today it is Koregaon Park (and not the Peths or Camp) which is the new food district of Pune. 

But what you get in Koregaon Park is not the Signature Cuisine of Pune – it is cuisine you can get in any cosmopolitan city of India and abroad. 

Every city has its signature food and most cities strive to maintain their cookery legacy. One must introspect as to why Punekars do not seem to be that passionate about preserving their cookery legacy. 

Shanwar Wada