The roti or chappati, something we are all familiar with, has very basic ingredients -- water, salt, and flour. But despite the utter simplicity of its components, a certain mastery is required to make the perfect roti -- A mastery that many machines have attempted to replicate but failed flamboyantly. Uninfluenced by the rapid developments in the field of food technology, rotis continue to be preferred to be made only and only by hand. Machine-made rotis fall far below the expectations that the average Indian has for his roti -- it must be soft, it must taste fresh, it must have risen to form a perfect halo of flour when placed on a fire, and it absolutely must be flawlessly round! In this podcast, Vikram Doctor delves deep into the science of the preparation and consumption of our national fixation.

Music: Josh Woodward

#24: The Unforgiving Roti: Is It Either Perfect or Inedible?

If you have an adventurous palate, join Vikram Doctor every fortnight as he indulges in his appetite for the stories of food. Taste the origins, legends and practical magic of ingredients and recipes that range from the everyday to the extraordinary.
Through ancestral kitchens, gourmet restaurants, exotic vegetable farms, modern agriculturists, heirloom aficionados... One of India’s most respected food writers has been there, eaten that and knows that there is no love more sincere than the love of food.

Arts

Literature

Performing Arts

Design

Food

Fashion & Beauty

Visual Arts

The winter holiday season is upon us. More Indians are travelling abroad with great regularity. As a lot of these people are vegetarians and it is difficult for them to find food that is suitable for them. Many travellers come up with ingenious ways to deal with the situation and a whole industry is developing to cater to their needs. In this episode Vikram Doctor sheds light on how vegetarians manage in places that are not particularly vegetarian friendly.

Music Credit: Josh Woodward

#43: (Indian) Vegetarians vs. The World.

In some regions of India, bread is an important part of the local cuisine. Mumbai’s most iconic street foods are vada pao and pao bhaji. In both Goa and Kashmir, locally baked fresh bread is a daily staple. When Chef Floyd Cardoz from Mumbai, a partner at the fantastic Bombay Canteen, set up a new restaurant in New York, he called it Paowalla. But often, the bread in our homes is not traditional bread but factory-made and pumped with preservatives to make it last longer and look whiter. In this episode of The Real Food Podcast, Vikram Doctor talks about the need to return to traditional forms of baking, which produce much healthier and tastier bread. 

Music Credit: Josh Woodward

#42: Pao-er to the People

Seen as old fashioned and rustic, jaggery is fast becoming a forgotten product. It survives mostly as a health food recommended by Ayurveda experts or as a nostalgic throwback to the yesteryears in middle class homes. In this episode, Vikram Doctor tells us about India’s long connection with jaggery in an attempt to revive our love for it. But the problem is not just the falling demand; even the production of jaggery has become increasingly difficult due to a lack of water and skilled labour.

Music Credit: Josh Woodward

#41: Gur - The Original Candy

From giant customised cakes for politicians’ birthdays to wedding cakes for not just Christian weddings, logo shaped cakes to celebrate a team’s win to heart shaped cupcakes on Valentine’s Day, cakes once seen as ‘western’ have now become a norm at Indian celebrations. With eggless cakes, cakes that don’t need an oven and even cakes made using idli batter, adapting to local conditions has played a major role in this change.

Music Credit: Josh Woodward

#40: Cakes - From Birthday Parties to Political Parties

Creating something new out of what is in your fridge from previous days can be a fine art. With a little creativity in the kitchen, leftovers from last night’s dinner can be magically transformed into something delicious and unrecognisable the next day. In this episode Vikram Doctor speaks to chefs who have been creating iconic dishes from leftovers and argues that neither our prejudices nor our ability to afford not to should get in the way of recycling food, a delicate art that we might lose in our hurry to throw away what we believe we don’t need any more.

Music Credit: Josh Woodward

#24: The Unforgiving Roti: Is It Either Perfect or Inedible?

Download our free app to listen on your phone