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Women Challenge India’s Islamic Law
AJMER – In India’s Islamic family law codes, a man can divorce his wife via email, or from another city without her knowledge. By simply saying the “talaq” (the Arabic world for divorce) three times, he can end his marriage in seconds and kick his wife out the same day. Being so simple, divorce can [...]
Masala on the Menu: U.S. Chains Cater to Indian Tastes
NEW DELHI – Pizza, as we know it, was invented in 1889 in Naples, Italy, by Don Raffaele Esposito as a dish for his queen. The Peshawari Chana Paneer Pizza, a more recent innovation, was developed by Pizza Hut India’s marketing and research team, headed by Sanjiv Mediratta. The intended consumer? Anyone craving “The Great [...]
Vendy Awards: Honoring NYC’s Street Food
NEW YORK – Cars honk. Rain falls. Health officials pay surprise visits. Still, they keep on serving up hot, delicious food at prices that everyone who works in the nearby skyscraper office buildings—from janitors to managers—can afford. These are New York City’s culinary warriors, the famed street vendors who often start their days at 4 [...]
Beyond Tikka Masala
WASHINGTON DC – “”Let’s try Indian food for dinner!” You’ll hear these words more often now from average Americans. Even small towns like Eureka in California (population 42,000) have Indian restaurants-two, in fact. These bastions of spice are considered exotic and different, except for the fact that most of them are the same. Every restaurant [...]
Lost in the Woods
EUREKA, CA – Count the rings inside the wood of the giant redwood tree. The thick one, in the middle, was formed around the time that Alexander the Great was conquering the world. The next, farther out, grew back when America first became a country. That outer one was made when man first walked on [...]
The Adoption Option
NEW DELHI – A typical day at Palna, a children’s home set amid lush gardens in New Delhi, is full of activity. An Indian couple sits down with their adopted son to discuss adopting a second child. A Western couple walks into the doctor’s office, cradling their new Indian daughter and getting medical advice on [...]
Sidewalk Flavors of Bangkok
BANGKOK – My most vivid memory of the steamy street cart vendors in Bangkok is red – flaming red chilies in nearly every dish, popping out of salads, underneath the chunk of chicken, slivered or whole or split down the middle. They sneak up on you, at first bite warm, then hot, then building to [...]
Toonz Animation in Kerala
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM – In conservative Kerala, offices tend to be sleepy places filled with bored staff and dusty files. That’s why walking into the Toonz Animation office in Thiruvananthapuram is a bit of a shock. The walls of the office hall are spattered with caricatures. Dozens of 20-somethings are rushing around, shouting instructions. Another 100-odd youngsters [...]
U.S. Farmers’ Markets
WASHINGTON DC – Two years ago, every bite of food that Darrell Meyer ate traveled an average of 2,100 kilometers from where it was grown to his dinner plate. He bought lots of packaged, processed food at big supermarkets and fast food restaurants. Eating that kind of food led him to be diagnosed with high [...]