आखिर क्यों खिचड़ी बनी राष्ट्रीय भोजन | Khichdi - National Dish of India | World Food India Khichdi HD

आखिर क्यों खिचड़ी बनी राष्ट्रीय भोजन | Khichdi - National Dish of India Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union minister of food processing industries has tweeted: “Enough khichdi cooked up on a fictitious ‘National Dish’. It has only been put for a record entry in #WorldFoodIndia.” Sanjeev Kapoor will try to create a world record by cooking 800 kgs of khichdi on November 4 as part of the World Food India fair. It’s like World Yoga Day for khichdi. But the government should take note. Khichdi has shown immense potential as a prospective national food well beyond any World Food Day hoopla. Let us count the ways. It is a one-pot unity in its diversity. It can come geela or runny, or bhuna – dry. Fasting Hindus can partake of sabudana khichdi and avoid grains. Anglo-Indians can add smoked fish to it and make it a kedgeree. Even Hyderabadi Muslims have their khichdi keema so there’s no way to call this an underhand attempt to sideline Muslims and the biryani brigade. The South cannot call this yet another imposition of the Hindi belt since their bisi bele bath and pongal come close enough. Mamata Banerjee probably likes her khichuri. It is so resolutely bland, it evokes no passionate regional feelings like Alphonso mangoes vs Kesar vs Langra. We have all heard of the mango wars and the biryani wars. But whoever heard of khichdi wars? It is the safest of choices, almost boring in its wholesome virtuousness. It has an aam aadmi street credibility – very populist and anti-elite. In fact, when is the last time the Lutyens galouti liberals served khichdi at their salons? It has a Gujarat connection. These days it’s very important to have a Gujarat connection to everything. It helps with the general asmita. Suratis like their khichdi with kadhi. It’s popular in Kutch as well. It is, as the parody account Venkronym Naidu has tweeted, MODI – Most Outstanding Delicacy of India. It can be a great opportunity for Baba Ramdev who can flood the market with Patanjali khichdi mixes. Indigo can serve eight-minute heat-and-eat khichdi on the airplane. Foreign dignitaries can have it even if they are suffering from Delhi belly. It’s Indian but not too spicy and it’s definitely an untapped Indian food market. Chicken tikka masala is so 1990s. It is suitable for mass consumption and mass cooking. It can be cooked in vats, served by the ladle, an assembly line of golden glop. Imagine making corned beef for thousands. Or fruit bat soup which apparently is the national dish of Seychelles. It is the epitome of homogeneity. It is perfect for any government that wants a one-size fits all solution for everything. One Nation. One Song. One Election. One Interlinked-River. Now One Gruel to bind them all. Khichdi is our one-pot solution for nutrition and this is patriotic duty that can be administered by the ladle. Khichdi boils all our pesky diversity down to easy-to-swallow goop and its recipe is much easier and much more forgiving than the lyrics to Vande Mataram. It is comfort