Computers are not the only big thing in India’s silicon valley: hungry IT workers refuel at Bangalore’s wide variety of food trucks
I t’s all about food on the go in Bangalore. The capital of Karnataka state is India’s silicon valley, and as such has attracted workers from all over India, and the world. It’s now one of the country’s most diverse cities, and entrepreneurs have begun satisfying this appetite for diversity by setting up food trucks – like their counterparts in the US and Europe.
And following this fashion, many of Bangalore’s food trucks specialise in cuisine from America’s southern states. Jai Das runs the Fuel Up food truck with wife Deepthi at Bangalore’s Manayata technology park. A lunchtime queue of hungry workers snakes around the truck, and over a deliciously spicy burrito, Jai tells me: “Indians associate food trucks with American food, so our hot dogs and burgers are popular, but the Mexican dishes are best-sellers because there’s always lots of rice, which Indians love.”
However, the increasingly varied cuisine on offer reflects locals’ appetites for anything new. “Bangaloreans embrace different cuisines,” says Nishanth Rajkumar, co-founder of the As On Fire truck, which has its own wood-fired pizza oven. “They’re busy and want things quickly, which is why the concept is so successful.”
Nishanth got his inspiration on a visit to Cambodia, where he spotted a street vendor selling fresh pizza. He went home and created Bangalore’s first pizza and barbecue food truck, but with an India twist – the menu includes paneer pizzas and fiery barbecue drumsticks. “We coat the chicken with my mother’s secret spice blend,” he says.
The food truck boom has attracted chefs from as far afield as France. Last September,watchthewild three French ex-pats founded Bangalore’s first French food truck, Le Casse-Croûte. What’s their best-seller? The Monsieur Dupleix, a toasted sandwich with chicken curry and mayonnaise, named after the former governor of France’s Pondicherry territory.
