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.
Thanks so much for your comments - you are correct, PL480 is the name of the act not the wheat variety and the article has been amended to reflect that. The wheat loan was passed under Truman and PL480 was signed by Eisenhower, so this wasn't incorrect but has been reworded for clarity. Wheat shipments were stopped temporarily in the 60s but I've edited to make clear this didn't happen permanently. Glutinous hybrid wheat is sometimes referred to colloqually as 'highly refined' but it's much better to be clearer and more specific on this. Thanks so much for the close reading and any fact checking errors are mine alone - Jonathan.
Papayas are native to Maharashtra? They aren't even native to India, even if India grows most of them in the world now. I'm sorry, I don't want to be that nitpicking guy, and I'm passing over various statements in this piece that, I guess, must be accepted as being the author's take on the subject, but basic errors need to be pointed out, if only because otherwise they'll get picked up and repeated by succeeding generations of writers.
Thank you for this clarification. I was thinking of your lecture and the one by Biraj Patnaik on the Right to Food Act passed in 2013.
Sharanya - thank you for this beautiful piece - loved how you have tied post independence India with 5 biscuits. Just attended a lecture by Lizzie Collingham on military rations and the biscuit - and this ties in so well with her notes.
And I agree - more needs to be written about the role of packaged foods in the Indian kitchens, cars, schools and roads.
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.
Thanks so much for your comments - you are correct, PL480 is the name of the act not the wheat variety and the article has been amended to reflect that. The wheat loan was passed under Truman and PL480 was signed by Eisenhower, so this wasn't incorrect but has been reworded for clarity. Wheat shipments were stopped temporarily in the 60s but I've edited to make clear this didn't happen permanently. Glutinous hybrid wheat is sometimes referred to colloqually as 'highly refined' but it's much better to be clearer and more specific on this. Thanks so much for the close reading and any fact checking errors are mine alone - Jonathan.
Papayas are native to Maharashtra? They aren't even native to India, even if India grows most of them in the world now. I'm sorry, I don't want to be that nitpicking guy, and I'm passing over various statements in this piece that, I guess, must be accepted as being the author's take on the subject, but basic errors need to be pointed out, if only because otherwise they'll get picked up and repeated by succeeding generations of writers.
Thank you for this clarification. I was thinking of your lecture and the one by Biraj Patnaik on the Right to Food Act passed in 2013.
Sharanya - thank you for this beautiful piece - loved how you have tied post independence India with 5 biscuits. Just attended a lecture by Lizzie Collingham on military rations and the biscuit - and this ties in so well with her notes.
And I agree - more needs to be written about the role of packaged foods in the Indian kitchens, cars, schools and roads.
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.