Muddy, yet delicious street food

Rawalpindi is the best city to explore mouth-watering street food. When it comes to taste and variety, there is no doubt that it leads. Despite a big question mark hovering over the hygiene of the food served on the streets, people love to eat.

“Talk to people who have been living in the city for years and have witnessed the explosion of street food eateries or their evolution over time, and different perspectives emerge. While no one really vouches for the hygiene or food safety standards, whether they still enjoy it seems to be a largely personal choice,” says Murtajis Abbas. “Andaa shaami burger, ‘chana chaat’, fruit ‘chaat’, ‘samosa’, ‘grato jalebi’, roll ‘paratha’, ‘shawarma’, French fries, ‘nehari’, ‘tikka’, ‘siri paye’, fried fish, are as much a part of the street food scenario in the city as are chicken biriyani, mutton ‘biriyani’,” says Wardan Ali.

“Biriyani shops such as this are mushrooming all over the city and their locations next to open drains, in the midst of plying vehicles emitting black smoke, or under the dripping rainwater from the overhead make-shift tarpaulin roofs during monsoon are rarely a deterrent to customer interest,” says Alamdar Hussain. “Some shops are so tiny that they can accommodate one big ‘handi’ of ‘biriyani’ only. Just outside the shops, the mucky street dogs fight over the pieces of leftover meat thrown at them by the shop employees,” says Hasan Sadiq.

“The open drain in front of some shops overflows and the black water creates puddles all over. A line of bricks is laid out haphazardly over the puddles so that customers can step across keeping their shoes dry. Black smoke sticks to the walls of the shop as it does to the bottom of the ‘handi’,” adds Hasan. “My friend guarantees the taste, and when asked about the conditions under which it has been prepared, he says, “I have been buying ‘biriyani’ from this shop for five years and no one in my family has ever fallen ill. The children love this and there have never been any health issues,” says Qalb-e-Haider.

“There is a shop that has cropped up in front of my house. One fine day they just put up bamboo, put a tarpaulin sheet on top, placed two wooden benches, and opened shop. It has become popular in the locality since then and my friends often order from the shop when they have parties,” says Azadar Hussain, a media person. Nade Ali says, “However, I never have from there and I am even particular about checking out at parties if it has been ordered from there.”