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Delhi Belly And Me

by | 16th, April 2007

IN an article entitled “Street food is curbed to beat Delhi belly”, the Times says the Supreme Court has banned cooking at street stalls in Delhi.

Hawkers have been ordered to sell “cold, packaged dishes prepared at home”.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which is responsible for sanitation, is expected to start closing down illegal stalls after a final court hearing on its action plan on April 17. City officials say that the idea is to rid Delhi of unsanitary stalls that help to spread diarrhoea, typhoid and hepatitis A by leaving food out in the open and washing plates and mugs in dirty water.

“It’s wrong to say that this will put an end to street food culture. A lot of street food is sold in shops which are properly regulated,” Sanjiv Sen, a lawyer for the MCD, told The Times. “But you cannot just start cooking on the street — it is unhygienic and unsafe.”

The Times of India reports that the World Bank in association with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is conducting a programme in 16 cities to train street vendors on maintaining hygiene and safety.

All good stuff.

But as a Times letter writer says: “In my 15 years of working in rural India , the majority of friends who have contracted ‘Delhi belly’ can trace it back to a big hotel.”

I can only agree. I have been all over India and eaten in the street. Nothing untoward has happened. And then I visited a famous hotel – five stars – and ate a sandwhich.

I will not give full throat on the details other than to say the hotel’s position – surrounded by water – was more than useful.

PS – On a jaunt from Fleet Street offices I used to pop into a place where the meat was unrefrigerated and in the window. All meat, bread and butter was cut with a single knife. I never got ill.

Can’t recall the name of the place, though, only that it was known locally – and unfairly – as Botchulism Central.



Posted: 16th, April 2007 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink