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Showing posts from July, 2014

Our Pathare Prabhu Evening...A Cultural Journey

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When one talks of Maharashtrian food,there really is such a wide variety.Every community has its own distinctive masala and cuisine.One such community is that of Pathare Prabhus who currently are about 7000 in number,lesser than Parsis! Nikolai Kirtikar told us about their history.Pathare Prabhus trace their descent from King Ashwapati (circa 700 B.C) who was a monarch of Nepal and from solar lineage of Lord Ram.His kingdom included what is now Nepal and extended to present day Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.The descendants travelled down to Gujarat (Somnath temple area) and finally to Mumbai.Their journey contributed to the unusual dishes you find in the community.Their language too has words from the Gujarati and Marwari language. Members of this community owned places like Fort,Palav Road (present Girgaum road),Laini (present day Princess Street),Girgaon Back Road(now V.P.Road) and Navi Wadi.Malad,Bhayandar,Kashi-Mira,Uttan,Kelve Mahim and Chene were places that were their str

Pet Pujaris: Connecting People Through Food

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Had read about the Pet Pujaris quite some time ago and followed them on Facebook.They organize a Fatka event (in an expensive restaurant) and a Kadka event (cheap/streetfood) once a month.Somehow I would always miss their announcement and see the photos later.This time I saw that they had an event in a new restaurant  Terttulia and decided to attend.My friends know my sense of punctuality and set alarms on the day we are to meet :)  I wasn't sure about the location yet I landed up being the first guest to arrive.Kumar Jhuremalani who set up Pet Pujaris and his friend Taha were waiting.Found them both to be warm and great conversationalists. It was raining heavily yet we were about twenty five people! There was loud music but it didn't stop us from having a conversation.There we were....architects,lawyers,doctors and folks from the digital and social media connecting through food. The best part was that it wasn't all about food,food and food.It was like goin