Onions make vendors cry, radish to the rescue

Owners of eateries by the road say many customers understand the situation

December 07, 2019 01:35 am | Updated 01:35 am IST

Most of the roadside eateries in the Capital are now serving radish instead of onions because to the high price of the latter.

Most of the roadside eateries in the Capital are now serving radish instead of onions because to the high price of the latter.

Rajan, an autorickshaw driver, a regular at a busy roadside eatery in Jangpura, asked the owner: “ Bhai, aaj pyaaz khilaoge ya mooli? [brother, what will we feed us today? Onions or radish]” The owner replied: “ Pyaaz wala thali toh sirf VIP ke liye hai [onions are only for VIPs]”.

The customers now ask for extra pickled carrots and chilies to compensate for the missing onions. Across roadside eateries, shredded radish is being served to compensate for onions because of the rising cost of the staple garnish.

The customers, however, are cooperative, said owners of these roadside eateries.

Biru Sing who has been selling chole bhature and kulche for over 30 years in Connaught Place said he does not serve the dish with onions anymore.

“I served onions till the rate was ₹60 per kg. I have stopped now as I will not make any profit. This had happened in 2017 also,” he said, adding that when customers ask for onions, he said: “I don't buy onions for my house, how will I get it here.”

At ITO, asking for onions with your meal comes with a free lesson in economics. “I have stopped serving onions to my customers and conveyed the reason to them. I serve one plate chola bhature for ₹25 and if I serve onions worth of ₹100/kg to a customer then what profit will I make,” said Ramesh Singh.

He added that most of the customers understand the situation but he does have a bowl of onions tucked in behind the larger vessels to offer customers if they really insist.

Supreme Court canteen

However, there are not many takers to radish. A lawyer said the Supreme Court canteen, which used to serve a good amount of onions with most of the food items in their menu, has stopped it.

“Yesterday, I ordered aloo gobi and roti. The dish usually comes with onion pieces but they were missing. Instead, they were replaced by shredded radish which I didn’t even touch,” the lawyer said.

Even in Zakir Nagar, a group of foodies who had gone for a food walk to the area said a famous galauti kebab shop that used to give an unlimited supply of pickled onions was serving chopped cabbage along instead.

In Delhi University, a vendor selling bhel puri outside the Arts Faculty said he had not cut down on onions in his bhel puri and was tiding over the tough time.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.