How India’s Favourite Sweet Got Its Iconic Name

In these days of bigotry and bullying we have to remind people like Mr. Yogi, no not the cuddly bear, the insane man whose wardrobe only consists of orange and diction only consists of racial slurs, that India shares a relationship with muslims and the Middle East to its very core. A great cultural indicator is food, it’s what you survive on and is an integral part of life. Of course, now the dialogue of cultural food in India is polarized, mundanely and hatefully circling the topic of what one community eats and what another hates to eat.

However, we’d like to talk about what foods we share and love together as Indians. It may surprise Mr. Yogi this Diwali as he munches on the sweet, which boasts his favourite colour, that Jalebis are actually a sweet that originated from Persia, today’s Iran. Supposedly jalebis or the Arabic word zulabiya, came into existence as a sweet offered to the poor during ramadan. Now, don’t put down your sweet and pout Mr. Yogi. If you refuse to eat all the food we consider Indian, but actually was introduced under the Delhi Sultanate you’ll starve - Gulab jamun and samosas are also on that list.

And if you defiantly say, “I’ll have rajma chawal til the end of my days”, we’ll have to interject once more and say, hold the chawal. You see most historians agree that rice itself was brought to India by the Mughals.

A notable difference in a Persian jalebi compared to its Indian brother is that its syrup contains honey and colouring unlike India’s sugar and saffron. Like Hindus and Muslims, both are great despite a bit of difference. So Mr. Yogi, all we have to say is that jalebis have been in India for at least 500 years and they’ll be here 500 more, far after you’ve gone; so pick one up this diwali, really, and pick one up for your muslim brother as well.

Feature Image Source: eattreat.in