For the millions of Indians travelling abroad, food lessons from Gandhi, Vivekananda and Mamata

Around 1893, a young Mohandas Gandhi started writing a guide to London. He was working as a barrister in Pretoria, South Africa, but did not have much work and decided to put his recent experience of living in the United Kingdom while studying law to good use by writing a guide for Indians travelling there. A great part of this manuscript, which was never completed, involved food.

It started with the long voyage: 22 days by sea to London, or 13 by sea to Brindisi in Italy, from where it was two days by rail. Food was served onboard, but Gandhi hints it was boring: “As a precaution, it would be better to keep a stock of some fresh fruits and sweets, e.g., jalebi, halva, etc., and some salt things, e.g., ganthia.”

Gandhi notes: “If a pious Indian does not want to eat food cooked by Europeans, he can cook his own food in the Indian quarters…whether this is advisable or not is quite another matter.” On his own first trip, he quickly exhausted his snacks and was apprehensive of the dining room food. But a more resourceful passenger struck a deal with the Indian crew and got the crew to cook for them. It was...

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