LFC Delhi | July 2025
Neha: My father sent this very nostalgic and whimsical song to me today, called ‘Main Hoon Dilli Ka Halwai’. It’s a very sweet, fun throwback, and it’s good to know that some things about Dilli’s food are still the same!
Mayukh: This song reminded me of this heartfelt video of Sardar Halwewala, Upkar Singh, who sells halwa every morning on his bicycle in Old Delhi.
Ishan: What is Delhi food? This is not a rhetorical question. Are there any dishes that are native to Delhi?
Mayukh: Butter Chicken! Created by Kundan Lal Gujral (or Jaggi, depending on who wins the legal dispute). Tandoori chicken was dunked in a tomato gravy to extend its shelf life before refrigeration. It debuted at their small restaurant, Moti Mahal, in Daryaganj.
Neha: Great question. And the answer always falls short. Delhi’s iconic dishes always get counted amongst chaats and kebabs, but it’s a city of immigrants—their stories and contributions to the cuisine should be counted as well. Bengali migrants have contributed so much to the food here. And Afghan and Irani immigrants as well. Bihari food, too, is becoming more and more visible…I think it’s really hard to say what Delhi food or cuisine is.
Mayukh: Delhi did have a sort of cuisine, developed over the Sultanate period to the Mughal Empire. However, the Partition erased much of it with mass migrations. And Punjabi communities from present-day Pakistan brought a different set of flavours with them, which defines our present-day street food.
Neha: The street food here also has a lot of Bengali, Guajarati, and Marwari influences.
PS: Historically, Delhi’s food is seen as Mughlai: that is, from around the Lal Qilla, which was the main city. But what about the villages around it? This food should be Delhi food as well, because when the boundaries were redrawn, these were included in Delhi.
Anant: You might find this talk by Sohail Hashmi interesting!
Read an excerpt from ‘From the King’s Table to Street Food’ (2024), by Pushpesh Pant, published by Speaking Tiger Books here.