We're now in 2023, and every Indian biscuit brand seems to have their own version of the Pran Potata (btw their garlic toasts are also to die for, constantly sold out at our local shops). Their potato crackers and phoochka are also really, really good.
It's interesting to note just where this came from - when I first heard of the Potata from our neighbours back in 2018, it was a new-to-us Bangladeshi brand that had only just made it across the border (this being Calcutta, a place where new product launches take place months after every other major Indian city gets them). It's very rare for a trend to go from east (not north-east) outwards to the rest of India, and also for it to not be coming from the US or East Asia - the flavours on the Potata are 100 percent South Asian, and all the more beloved for it.
Didn't know that biscuits could induce nostalgia! It is the writing. Love the illustrations as well. I think 50-50 it's sweet and salty, is also part of the narrative. That perfect balance where the taste buds oscillated between - It's sweet, it's salty, created a category. Sadly, some of the ginger biscuits with the strong heady taste from unbranded bakeries in Poona never made it to the mainstream
PL 480 was not a variety of wheat. It stands for Public Law 480, short form for the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act, 1954, signed by Eisenhower, and had nothing to do with Truman. Wheat shipments were not stopped in the 1960s, in fact a lot was sent under PL 480, but its true that Johnson conveyed his displeasure over India's position on Vietnam by ekeing out supply. The problem with American wheat wasn't that it was 'highly refined' - It was mostly supplied in grain form, so the question of refining doesn't really come up - but the fact that it was hard high gluten wheat, as was required by the American market, rather than the softer wheat used for making roti flour in India. I think some fact checking is due on this piece.
This is a very detailed piece on the history of the biscuit industry in India. A notable miss is J,B. Mangharam, which was later taken over by Britannia. Their thin sweet wafers and jam biscuits were the sought after ones in their colourful tins, which with the pictures of religious figures and famous tourist sights of India, are probably collectors' items today. That they were around both in pre and post-Partition India make them a very important part of India's biscuit history.
The writer brought back so many childhood memories with just biscuits❤️
Big fan of a “Dark Fantasy” (the biscuit).
I loved the history under the wrapper.
We're now in 2023, and every Indian biscuit brand seems to have their own version of the Pran Potata (btw their garlic toasts are also to die for, constantly sold out at our local shops). Their potato crackers and phoochka are also really, really good.
It's interesting to note just where this came from - when I first heard of the Potata from our neighbours back in 2018, it was a new-to-us Bangladeshi brand that had only just made it across the border (this being Calcutta, a place where new product launches take place months after every other major Indian city gets them). It's very rare for a trend to go from east (not north-east) outwards to the rest of India, and also for it to not be coming from the US or East Asia - the flavours on the Potata are 100 percent South Asian, and all the more beloved for it.
Didn't know that biscuits could induce nostalgia! It is the writing. Love the illustrations as well. I think 50-50 it's sweet and salty, is also part of the narrative. That perfect balance where the taste buds oscillated between - It's sweet, it's salty, created a category. Sadly, some of the ginger biscuits with the strong heady taste from unbranded bakeries in Poona never made it to the mainstream
PL 480 was not a variety of wheat. It stands for Public Law 480, short form for the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act, 1954, signed by Eisenhower, and had nothing to do with Truman. Wheat shipments were not stopped in the 1960s, in fact a lot was sent under PL 480, but its true that Johnson conveyed his displeasure over India's position on Vietnam by ekeing out supply. The problem with American wheat wasn't that it was 'highly refined' - It was mostly supplied in grain form, so the question of refining doesn't really come up - but the fact that it was hard high gluten wheat, as was required by the American market, rather than the softer wheat used for making roti flour in India. I think some fact checking is due on this piece.
This is a very detailed piece on the history of the biscuit industry in India. A notable miss is J,B. Mangharam, which was later taken over by Britannia. Their thin sweet wafers and jam biscuits were the sought after ones in their colourful tins, which with the pictures of religious figures and famous tourist sights of India, are probably collectors' items today. That they were around both in pre and post-Partition India make them a very important part of India's biscuit history.