The Origin Story Of The Samosa, And How It May Not Be Indian At All

About a year ago I was walking along the streets of Nairobi being a stereotypical tourist and brandishing my camera in people’s faces. As I systematically irritated the people of Kenya, I caught a glimpse of a woven basket brimming with glistening golden triangles. Given that Nairobi is home to a fairly large amount of Indians (we’re everywhere), I naturally figured the Kenyans had fallen in love with India’s most iconic snack.

I smiled at the samosa seller and said, “Two samosas please!” The man laughed at me and bellowed, “Samosa, no, ho, ho. (He actually chuckled like that). This is Sambusa!” At the time I thought the man was simply clueless, but this happened every single time I approached a samosa walla in Kenya. Also, each time I bit into what I stubbornly believed was a samosa, the crust’s texture was softer, giving way to juicy minced lamb and finely chopped onion. That’s when the unthinkable happened. For the first time in my life, I began to question the authenticity of the Indian samosa.

It led to the ultimate question — are samosas Indian? Well, technically no, at least as far as origin goes. It seems that Egypt is actually the home of the samosa, or should I say, samsa. Apparently, the name was derived from the pyramids of Central Asia, given their similar appearance. It turns out these palm-sized triangles are eagerly eaten all over the East, and have a myriad of name variants: sanbusak, sanbusaq, and sanbusaj, extending from the the Persian word, sanbosag.

Historians widely concur that the inclusion of the samosa into the Indian diet can be attributed to the arrival of the Mughal dynasty. Nevertheless, there are a few outliers who assert that pre-existing trade relationships between India and the Middle East brought the samosa to India. Regardless of either theory, the history books are against the erroneous notion that samosas originated in India. Now does it make a bit more sense when meaty samosas pop up everywhere during Ramadan?

Yet, there remains the argument — Indian samosas are predominantly vegetarian. It appears Uttar Pradesh is where the samosa morphed into a fried pocket of soft potatoes, peas and green chillies. If you feel irreparably shocked that the samosa did not originate from India, relax. We’ve taken the second part of the samosas life and made it Indian. After all, the Italians technically got pasta from Chinese traders, but nobody gives a flying hootenanny because fettuccine alfredo is heaven and undeniably Italian!

If you want to be comforted, at least we have the one of the most popular variants of this triangle shaped bundle of joy. Moreover, countries across the globe each have their own interpretation of the original samsa, which is pretty cool. Argentina’s empanadas came to fruition due to Arabian traders and are typically filled with minced beef and olives (although most empanadas are crescent shaped). Israeli borekas are baked, topped with sesame seeds and typically filled with chickpeas or cheese. The Italian calzone is loosely based on the samsa, which makes perfect sense once you realize how close Sicily is to North Africa and consider the amount of times each country invaded each other.

In these days of racism and division, it’s nice to know that samosas unite us all!

Feature Image Source: hangouts.co.in

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