FOOD

Due to popular demand, I'll write about the food here. First off, let me say that Northern Indian food and Southern Indian food is very different. It appears that all the Indian that I have had in the past has been of the northern flavor (and I am in the very...very south).
Traditionally for breakfast we have a dosa, flat rice pancake dipped in Sambar, which is kind of like chicken noodle soup. We also have coconut chutney and bananas. It's good, but very plain. Nothing here is seasoned with salt, everything is spicy or sweet. We always have breakfast at the hostel in the 'canteen' and it is pretty much the same thing every day.

Lunch, however is more exciting. We usually eat where ever we are teaching or hanging out in the city. Yesterday we ate at the food court in the big mall. That included Dominoes Pizza, KFC, and Subway, (I'll give you three guesses as to which I had).

But eating at the food court is rare, usually we find a little diner or restaurant that can fit us all and we order a ton of food and just pass things around. This includes more dosa with different masala sauces, rice and veggies, fruit chutneys, noodles with chicken or goat meat, wide variety of stuff. But mostly white carbs and spicy sauces. My stomach is slowly adjusting...I won't go in to detail there, use your imagination.

The strangest thing is EVERYONE EATS WITH THEIR HANDS. yes, EVEN RICE. So far I have been asking for silverware and taking baby steps towards eating like a local, but all the other kids really get into it. All foods are eaten with your hands, more specifically just your right hand. I will have to do some research as to why this is, but it's awfully fun to watch!

For dinner the past few nights we have gone out as a group to some nice restaurants...Sanjay wants to treat us the first few days we are here. But starting tonight we will be eating at the hostel. More rice, dosa, marsala and chutney. Also a lot of fruit like bananas and mangoes. Its very good as well, my favorite being paneer butter marsala over rice or nan bread. It is cheese cubes and a spicy sauce and sooo good.

Today we are spending the afternoon south of the city is a little coastal town where a children's orphanage is. We ate lunch at a little seafood place and since this is a food-related post, my first picture of the day will be of our lunch selection. very fresh!Actually, I had marsala calamari... way good. If you are wondering if the seafood is safe to eat even when the water is not safe to drink...that is a very good question. And I don't really have an answer to that, other than I'll let you know if I get ill. But everyone seems to think it's ok. :/

On a different note, my new favorite thing is tea breaks! When we are teaching or visiting or just having lessons, locals take a tea break just about every three hours. And the tea is really just a mix of coffee and tea leaves, very sweet, kind of milky and a highly caffeinated and it comes served with little biscuits as well. At first I thought this was a practice reserved for foreigners or wealthy people, but in actuality there are tea stalls all over the city and everyone takes multiple tea breaks throughout the day no matter what you are doing.

Some days I love it and some days it doesn't love me back but all in all the food is pretty good.

-S