Date: 5th Jun 2019
Venue: Cupertino, USA

Whole Foods Market is a natural and organic chain of stores in the United States of America.  They have a loyal customer base among consumers who support a more ecological conscious way of life. There is a Whole Foods store in Cupertino, a city in California, USA. This Whole Foods stands out from the other outlets.

Whole Foods, Cupertino houses – Dosateria – a live dosa counter.  Given the number of takers, it seemed popular. Cupertino is part of IT hub – the Silicon Valley. There is a high concentration of Indians in this part of USA. Perhaps the Dosateria was to cater to this group?  But it was lunch hour and yet we were the only Indians in queue.  Obviously the counter was popular among non Indians as well.

The menu was short – masala potato dosa, butter chicken dosa and lamb dosa. The first dosa is our masala dosa, what we ordinarily get in India. The two other versions were novelty. Hence when our turn came, we promptly ordered a butter chicken dosa and lamb dosa.  For loyalties sake, as a post script, we ordered a masala dosa as well. We were asked to select the chutneys and we had a choice of mango habanero (Spanish chilli), coconut, sweet and sour and cilantro. We could have two sauces with each dosa. We opted for all the sauces among the 3 dosas.

It took about 10 minutes when we were called to the counter.  We carried the dosas to the tables set up at one corner of the store. The dosas were larger and thicker than the dosas that we get in Delhi. They were a beautiful golden brown. Sambar cups came on the side. The dosas were tasty – thick yet crispy. The butter chicken stuffing in the dosa seemed a little mismatch to our untrained tongue. But the lamb filling went very well with the dosa crust. It had some spinach in it too. Somehow all the dosas were a little hot. Yet, nobody seemed to mind. The sweet and sour sauce saved the day for us.

The overall experience was familiar yet different for us. The Dosateria counter also sold packed dosas, dosa batters, rice meals and curries and chutneys. The high hygiene standards of the store made every item looked a tad sanitised for us. After all what is Indian food without a little mess and oil?

But then Indian food in fact has gained enormous popularity overseas. There are host of basic to fine dining Indian restaurants all over the world. In fact, Chicken Tikka Masala is among most popular dishes in the United Kingdom. But it seems that its time Chicken Tikka Masala has a competitor – the humble dosa from India. We have recently written a post about the popularity of Indian handicrafts in USA. The Dosateria at the upscale Whole Foods Market gives us another reason to be proud about all things Indian.