Brief History Of Vada Pav

Vada Pav the lifeline of a city, residing at the heart of millions of people, food that is loved by the rich as well as the poor. Vada Pav is in reality the Soul of Mumbai.

In many ways Vada Pav proves, that it's a food that portrays Mumbai. The hot and steaming potato designates the weather of the city, the gram flour crust of the Vada showcases the life of the people living on the edge (crunchy), and the spicy chutney the nature of mumbaikars filled with life and flavors, and the cold Pav shows the western influence that is diluted in the city that nobody seems to notice just like the oil of the vada is soaked in the Pav.

A simple food crafted by a genius around the late 1960's (somewhere around 1966-1971) by a person named Ashok Vaidya. It was created at the Dadar station (Mumbai). The was a perfect solution food in the city, it was cheap, hot, fast, healthy, low risk, nutritious starch energy rich not too greasy fast food. Mumbaikars are always on the move, it seems the city needs at least 30Hrs a day to finish off the work (that too might not be enough). Vada Pav was the perfect solution food, it was the answer to, so many hungry mouths.



The legend drew me to Dadar, Mumbai in search of Narendra Vaidya and Abhijeet Samel who are at positioned still at Dadar. As per the legends a man in white clothes with the white cap, long mustaches and short stature crafted a food that runs in the veins and the bellies of the people, the "Vada Pav". Narendra Vaidya gave a good glimpse down the road around 1966 his father opened a street food stall, soon after the he crafted vada Pav, he completed his BCom. Around 1998 when his father passed away and sine then he took the reigns of his father, first he thought it was temporarily later he was completely immersed in this business, as a ShivSainik by political belief he is a full time Vada Pav supplier at the Sena.

The story of the discovery/invention of this combination food has died as a mystery with the passing away of Ashok Vaidya. He brought the three key components Pav (from Portugal), Batata Vada (from Karnataka/Maharashtra), the fiery red Chutney (from North Karnataka/Maharashtra), to one Vada Pav which was more mumbaikar than any other food around. Bhaji Pav went global, Misal Pav went to be Maharashtra's heart throb, but Vada Pav is what Mumbai is.

Thanks to +Akash More who as a translator helped me complete this blog and accompanied me to Dadar with a very short notice.

The intervining Histories of Misal Pav and Bhaji Pav

History of the beloved Pav was explained in a previous post. In this post we will dip into the history of Bhaji Pav(as it is famously known in Maharashtra) or Pav Bhaji and Misal Pav(Lesser Known friend of Pav Bhaji). 

Bhaji on The Brew +Mumbai 

History has been kinder to Pav Bhaji than Misal pav. One reached the heights of fame & name, both nationally as well as globally(obviously its Pav Bhaji). On the other hand the Misal Pav did lay low and didn't reach far but, penetrated deep in the houses and daily lives of Maharashtra. On one hand Bhaji has too many variations added to its native self whereas the Misal became a traditional name in every household in Maharashtra and stayed true to its recipe(More or less). 

Brewing Misal(Spicy Water on the Brew)

All the information on this blog is a borrowed wisdom from a Parsi dada(who is my Nana's friend) and my own Grandfather. Both of them were there when the newly independent India had crowned the state called Bombay(This state was later was divided into 2 states Gujarat and Maharashtra). My grandfather was a teacher back in those days and the Parsi Dada was a mill Staff.

A common Masala Box for Pav Bahji 

My grandfather's view showed me the distinct distinction of class.At one spectrum was the new emerging middle class, the strugglers, the new generation of modern mumbai, This were the Pav Bhaji loving crowd(who tried the expensive option opposed to Chana-chur or Shelled Roasted Peanuts sing dana). At the other end was Misal Pav(Lovers), who were the migrants who moved to Bombay due lack of work/food/refugees/caste based problems(or anyone who wanted a better life) who hardly had any money to survive on the stuck to the option that did feed them and well and as well as did cost a fraction of its richer cousin the Bhaji Pav. 

Common Ingredient for Pav Bhaji

The Parsi dada gave a completely different outlook. He said that even before he was born of of these dishes did exist (He himself is 88 years old and yet young at heart man and was born in Mumbai). According to him the Bhaji Pav was born near the mill gates at Tardeo. The workers preferred their tiffins or nearby vendors for Roti sabji and or Dal Chawal during the afternoons meals, but during the night shifts the workers had to work for late night shift they had this unique food that the vendor mixed matched and provided them. At this point in the history the Bhaji Pav was still in its nascent and raw form as we know today, As Pav was easily available and all the unsold sabji from the vegetable market came was mashed and cooked together in a single pot and was served with a toasted Pav. 

On the other hand the Misal Pav was the food of the docks. Anyone who worked at the docks was either unfortunate and or a refugee. They had the situation that meet the accurate definition of hand to mouth. As people were forced to eat water and Pav initially, slowly and the spices were added to the saline water(which still is there the fiery red water),  then various sprouts were added and as the worker's condition got better the mixture(a mix of fried besan aka gram flour noodles + corn flakes + peanuts) was added to make it crunchy. Thus the Misal Pav was born out of needs of the poor.

Sprouts Mixture and Spices for Making Misal

Both of these men (My dada and Parsi Dada) did agree well on one fact, that in and around late 1960's that the Bhaji Pav that we know today was born. The recipe started getting more and more consistent and started taking shape as we know today. The use of fresh vegetable showcasing became a norm, potato became the base and the faithful partners capsicum, tomato and cabbage(and many more as you like) joined them on a tawa(which was unusual). The predominant use of tawa ensured quicker cooking and avoided overcooking(as it can happen on a kadhai).

The Best Misal Pav in Ahmedabad

As the dairy production reached its peak so did the butter fried pav and extra butter on the Bhaji arrived. Then as per experiments done by chefs around Mumbai one devour Cheese Pav Bhaji, chum chum(not a Bengali sweet dish), Khada Bhaji and many many more (as I'm a non Mumbaikar i can't say anymore names). This made the Pav Bhaji more renowned name in every household in the nation(And now around the Globe). On the other hand every district in Maharashtra can definitely tell us the variation the brought to Misal Pav,  the biggest variation was brought at Baroda which they like to call Ussal Pav(Not even close to misal as per my Marathi friend Akash More).

Bombay Street +"Amdavad"

I can't say the exact year in the history when these two originated but as per many blogs and wikipedia(which i'm a usually a skeptic) says these two arrived around mid 19th century(few blogs claim the exact years 1850 ). As there is a lack of historical evidences or i couldn't dig deep enough( cause i don't know anyone older that 88 years).  

Wish to get your opinion which one would you Prefer of the two Misal Pav or Pav Bhaji and your favorite location.

           

Incredible Origins of Pav

It's the humble story of India's Pav. It was once said to be poor mans dream food and food reserved for the minorities(muslims and catholics not trying to be racist). Unlike all the stoires from the history Pav and its origins are a bit melodramatic.

There is a difference between bun and Pav(Pao)

Origins of Its name Pav

I'm a Gujarati born on the other side of the nation at Bihar(it wasn't Jharkhand yet).  So i asked the best men (i.e. my Dada and Nana) about the history and introduction of bread and its fellow cousins in western states. Bread didn't penetrate the eastern regions(not even today). Eastern region uses rice and whole wheat flour more than any other Grain.

As my Grandfather had his extended family in Bombay(Mumbai) for more than a century(as we indians have huge families, Gujaratis and Mumbai are a synonym for us). It was here he heard about this great food "Pav". My Dada(don't judge me my Bong friends) told me that they muslims were involved in baking of pav those days, he went on to tell me that Ali Road was Aromatic paradise, baker's filled the air with their sweet smell. As the muslim labour would knead the dough with there legs and hence the name was coined pav.(I wasn't convinced as my Dada is old but not as old as the bread in India).

When I came to Ahmedabad I went on to ask my Nana about this curious question. He took me to his Parsi friend. I was there for a treat with the history with the Parsi Uncle. He told me so many stories of the mill workers and India's rise in the cotton mill. Every food and it's introduction in the Mill Era its highs and lows(Don't friends i know now the origins of Misal Pav and Pav Bhaji). He told me that pav was introduced much earlier than "Bread" by the Portuguese and as its a quarter of the whole loaf, hence the name was coined Pav(quite witty).

:Peek a boo He gave a jaw dropping fact that Vada Pav was introduced in and around 1965-1970:

Laadi Pav(pao)

I wasn't happy with the answers yet so before writing this blog I was googling for an answer and to no avail I could find any article or even a decent explanation why is it called Pav. I realised one thing the the Parsi Bawa told me Portuguese introduced bread to India. On the Stroke of Google translate i got "pao" the translation for Bread. Yes this is how simple it was thanks to technology.

Stay with me on this one. As the Portuguese came to India via Calicut where the is India's oldest Roman Catholic Church(RCC) came to India in the early 16th century(BTW India's oldest church is St. Thomas Church as old as 52 A.D. ). As a tradition in the RCC give Bread and wine. Wine has a long shelf life(wala one problem solved) and bread had to be cooked in India itself so Cochin and Goa must be the first place to create bread using taadi(local daaru aka wine/ if they didn't ring yeast with themselves) to ferment the bread and the ovens they had brought with them. Sugarcane was introduced later in India so Salt was added first. And its later cousin Bun added sugar. Soon this Goan pao went to the more populated city of Mumbai(Still love to call it BOMBAY).
So in a short history of time of 350 years we have a revised menu of Marathi menu that didn't ever exist. And goan cuisine do we have say a word on it.    

PS: Bun is cooked individually (and is usually sweetened) on the other hand pao is cooked in batches on the same pan so they have conjoined edges(and is always unsweetend).