Of all the things that one finds in a country revered for culture and colour- it’s potatoes that happen to be a huge crush of India. Believe it or not, a new study points to a rather serious number that the country consumes. You take heavy-handed statements with a bit of doubt.
It’s easier to decline or turn away from statements that emanate from unsolicited sources. For instance, when one simply states that India, as a country consumes a lot many potatoes- then you’d not even bat an eyelid for that.
But when statements are corroborated with facts, they carry a lot of sense, suddenly. Wondering how?
Here’s proof.
According to a survey carried out by an agency studying food trends, popular site Potato Pro.com published a serious number pointing to India’s fondness for the vegetable.
It turns out that 51 per cent of the country consumes potatoes on a daily basis. This is quite an emphatic number in all honesty. And in a lighter vein, perhaps this also explains why there’s a huge number of Indians battling weight issues. But with all due respect to lovers of the great vegetable- India surely loves a great deal of indulging in potato-based dishes.
The respondents to the survey happened to be individuals in the age group of 15-40 and the said survey was conducted in different cities across India. When asked individuals about their love for potatoes, many of them replied with 5 (the ratings being on a scale of 0-5). This was the maximum, of course.
And here’s an observation that’s hard to turn a blind eye on.
Whether you are a local or an extensive traveller (a business traveller) who frequents the country for work and related matters, it won’t be hard to find a penchant for “aaloo.” A staple inclusion arguably in cuisines from all around the country, there’s no rest day for potatoes in India. Hence, no Sundays whatsoever.
But the survey that furnished this finding wasn’t just any other research.
It was far from being a lame or random survey.
It evaluated how often do Indians indulge in what could now possibly be called among the favourite vegetables of the country. The super love for potato explains just why’s the vegetable an important base of so many vegetarian dishes.
When one doesn’t relish “Aaloo Ka Paratha”- a pretty staple diet- in the average Indian household, there are tons of other succulent dishes. Whether you fancy the gravy-based Aaloo-rassa (watery potatoes) and other traditional gravy based potatoes, you will also find a fondness for dry sabzis as well. It’s not uncommon to note the renowned fondness for other potato-based dishes, for instance, Aaloo-jeera, Kashmiri-aaloo or Dum-aaloo- all popularly featuring on both, a menu in any restaurant wherever you eat at or the Indian kitchen.
In fact, so incessant is this love for potatoes that there’s never a dearth in demand or supply of the French Fries, another favourite snack, or simply a consummate past time of India. If you are in India during the rains, then that favourite cup of tea will never be kept or had minus the pakodas; a fried Indian delicacy whose base, more often than not, you guessed it right, is the potato.
Most of the respondents, when questioned about their fondness for the vegetable suggested that they absolutely love having it in the fried form. And that doesn’t end here.
Forget the taste, the delicious feeling of tugging into India’s favoured vegetable. It appears, there’s something else that stood apart from the responses gathered from the individuals in reference to the potato. Many answerers felt that a potato just doesn’t get the respect that the vegetable truly deserves. That potato happens to be a versatile vegetable- an idea of which you may have sought at this time having read into the write up- is the strong sentiment for a generally potato-loving country. Now, isn’t that interesting?