On May 8, 2020, I released a video called 101 Indian Street Food Dishes to Eat Before You Die. A little over two years later, that video has become my most successful video to date, with nearly 9 million views as of October of 2022. Huge thanks go out to everyone who has watched it so far!
One person who hadn’t seen the video yet is my dad, Tomas, who has always been one of my biggest supporters from the very beginning. So I decided it would be run to react to my video with my dad in my office!
I’ve eaten a ton of Indian street foods over the years. My Indian street food journey began back in January of 2018, when I took my first trip to India. I started in the capital, Delhi, before making my way to Agra, Lucknow, Jaipur, Varanasi, and Mumbai. I ate my way through all six cities and fell in love with Indian cuisine along the way as I tried dishes like parathas, tunday kababi, pav bhaji, and pani puri for the first time.
Ten months later, in November of 2018, I returned to India for round two, and toured seven more incredible cities: Pune, Hyderabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad. On that massive, three-week-long trip, I ate everything from pizza dosas to squid curry to fire paan!
Trip number three was a bit more localized. In March of 2019, I limited my travels to the underrated and lesser-explored northeastern states of Assam and Meghalaya. While exploring Guwahati, Manas National Park, Shillong, Cherrapunjee, Dawki, Tezpur, Jorhat, Majuli Island, Sivasagar, and other amazing locations, I dove into incredible dishes like pigeon, dohklieh, gappa ghotala, jadoh, and bamboo pork!
My fourth and final full trip to India came less than a year later, in January of 2020. I stuck to the southern state of Kerala and made my way up the coast from Trivandrum up to Kozhikode, with a few days further inland in Thekkady and Munnar. Along the way, I dove deep into Kerala-style seafood dishes like kalumakkaya, mackerel biryani, and crab curry, as well as others like Thelassery biryani, avil milk, beef fry, and tata dosas.
And even though I’ve now spent several months in total exploring India, I’ve still barely scratched the surface when it comes to the cuisine of this enigmatic nation. There’s so much more for me to try, and I can’t wait to go back one day.
Tell me, what’s your favorite Indian dish? Tell me in the comments below and let’s chat!
My name is David Hoffmann. Since starting David’s Been Here in 2008, I have traveled to over 1,300 destinations in 91 countries to experience and document unique cultures on my YouTube channel, travel blog, and social media.
I highlight culture and historical sites, but my passion is food! I love to experience and showcase the different flavors each destination has to offer, from casual street food to gourmet restaurant dining.
