Heard of Tandoori Momos? : Tibetan Refugees Contribute to Indian Cuisine

• The momos are a delicious contribution to the Indian street food
• Given an Indian touch, the Tandoori Momos have gained popularity very rapidly
• Some even call this soft power strategy branding it as a threat to Indian culture

July 12, 2017: The Indian public loves Tandoori Momos but that is due to the Tibetan Refugees, who sheltered in India and have successfully added the dish to the Indian cuisine.

It is not clear if momos are exclusive to Tibetan tradition considering the strong influence that China has exerted in the region. It is more likely a Chinese tradition if we look at the wider Dim-Sum categories.

Momos was a cheap dish, making it favourite among the peasants. Made of flour, meat, and local spices, the momos became a part of every common household.

The Dalai Lama's entry to India in 1959 in search of a new home (in the form of Dharamshala) brought with it a few Tibetans. A sizeable number more penetrated in the 1960s. Not surprisingly, the Indian government that was accommodating refugees from other different states also welcomed the Tibetan people with housing.

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Slowly, the diaspora came to the capital Delhi, providing them with an opportunity to set up road side stalls to sell their special artifacts and decors, particularly Janpath which is a busy street.

The diaspora was now in Delhi, continuously shifting towards east and northeast. They saw the Punjabi idea of food becoming the quickest way of recognition and interaction. Momos, as it seems, were easy to make roadside. Pork was added upon entering into Calcutta.

By the 1980s when its popularity peaked, other cultures like Bengalis, Nepalis, and Khasis entered the momo-making business.

It soon became like the present situation today. Momo sellers could be spotten in every Delhi market. Outside colleges, offices, bus stands, everywhere.

Once again, momo business started growing again, even entering the region of Jammu and Kashmir.

It so happened recently that a BJP legislator, Ramesh Arora, organized a protest against momos even going till the extent of branding the food "more dangerous than alcohol or psychotopic drugs" as the teenagers are getting hooked on to it.

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According to www.scmp.com report, Mr. Arora and co. actually feel that the momos are a threat to the Indian culture and cuisine, and that the dish is a soft power strategy of China (unaware of the fact that dumplings is more closely associated with India than China).

The protests were carried out with slogans and signs such as "Momo- the silent killer". Going one step further, in the only air time that he is expected to get in his lifetime, Arora tried warning the nation that Chinese cuisine causes cancer of the intestine!

Demonstrations and protests, as it seems, can emerge out of nothing and for absolutely nothing. This cruelty to momos was watched by thousands who took it as a part of the daily media coverage, only with hilarity.

– prepared By Saksham Narula of NewsGram. Twitter: @Saksham2394