Fast food fast tracks Indian cuisine to mainstream

In my latest USA Character Approved Blog post, a bevy of new Indian fast food restaurants reflects the mainstreaming of food from the Subcontinent here.

Fast food gets a bad rap, often for good reason. But something it does well, I think, is spot culinary cultural trends and help make them mainstream. In many cases, it even speeds them along.

One of the latest cuisines getting the fast food fast track treatment is Indian food. Living in Chicago, we’re blessed with lots of good options for Indian food, especially along Devon Avenue. The many restaurants along the crowded street are stuffed with Indian and Pakistani immigrants as well as growing numbers of adventurous Westerners. But dinners there are often protracted affairs, and for the uninitiated, the menus can be daunting.

Still, as more and more Americans are discovering, the flavors and aromas of Indian cuisine are downright addictive. To feed our collective growing appetite, a number of entrepreneurial restaurateurs are serving up fast food versions of Indian food. Just recently in Chicago, a bricks and mortar restaurant downtown and a food truck have both started selling wraps stuffed with new takes on traditional Indian dishes. And this is a national phenomenon, with restaurants and food trucks popping up coast to coast.

To me, it’s exciting for two reasons. First, it means more access to a whole wonderful world of food (served up fast and cheap). And second, as Indian food becomes yet another quick lunch choice, along with burgers, tacos and pizza, it’s evidence of our ever more adventurous national palate. To read more about the mainstreaming of Indian food in America, check out my latest post on the USA Character Approved Blog.