I grew up near a Thai Buddhist temple in the panhandle of Florida, and it was about the same. They did a charity cookout type thing every weekend, which was open to the public and they did a bunch of cultural and religious ceremonies right next to or right there in the little marketplace they set up for the cookout. It was a great way to kill a few hours on a sunday; $5 or $6 for a plate of pad thai and a skewer of thai bbq pork, see some cool ceremonies, sometimes end up talking with somebody from the temple for a bit. Absolutely blew my mind that a religious gathering could be so actively enjoyable after I grew up going to mass
It’s common to have a lunchtime buffet that simply puts out curries and charges for access to the table. Just not convenient for takeout since curry is tricky to transport.
I once heard about a system around Mumbai where one village routinely cooked lunches (curry, rice, etc), and ferried them via metal tankards by train to a neighboring town/city where people were working.
Not sure if its national, but in the Midwest, we have Naf Naf Grill, which is like the Chipotle of middle eastern food. Delicious by fast food standards, and I don’t get why middle eastern / mediterranean food isn’t bigger in the US. And to your point specifically, Indian food seems like it would fit the same template really well!
I wish Indian food were cheap around here. We have a healthy number of Indian immigrants and several restaurants, but they’re pricey. Delicious, worth it, but not cheap. And come to think of it, not terribly healthy, at least the way I order.
The good, cheap places you kind of had to hear about from people in the know.
There was one food truck on a university campus run by an amazing, nice guy from southern India. He gave you enough vegetarian, delicious food for two meals for the price of Big Mac (this was in the 1990s). He would give you food if you were broke. Sadly, he died pretty young from cancer, I think it was.
Personally, because it makes a lot of life better. I feel like shit when I eat like shit
I’ve found my own version of the middle path that involves exercise, decent food, and going out drinking. I may not live as long as others or as well as some, but I live to live not just to optimize health or pleasure
My best friend used to bitch at me for being so careful all the time when I was younger. “Bro, fucking just look at this snake! Quit being afraid of everything. Someone could run your ass over with a car on the walk back home and you’d bleed out wishing you had done something.”
He died at 18 in a car accident.
I mean, well, I always speak that attitude. I’m still not going around looking for danger. I do what I enjoy, which is modest by any standards, but if I wanted to eat nothing but ice cream and weigh 500lbs I would do just that.
No matter what I do, I’ll die. No matter how much I loved or hated it, I won’t remember any of it.
I lived in a city with a big Hindu temple and lots of Indian diaspora.
You know what that did for my standard of living? It gave me a lot of cheap, healthy and delicious places to eat.
I grew up near a Thai Buddhist temple in the panhandle of Florida, and it was about the same. They did a charity cookout type thing every weekend, which was open to the public and they did a bunch of cultural and religious ceremonies right next to or right there in the little marketplace they set up for the cookout. It was a great way to kill a few hours on a sunday; $5 or $6 for a plate of pad thai and a skewer of thai bbq pork, see some cool ceremonies, sometimes end up talking with somebody from the temple for a bit. Absolutely blew my mind that a religious gathering could be so actively enjoyable after I grew up going to mass
Completely un-American, you can only have one of the three
or if you’re rural, none of the above!
also, eliminate “fast” from fast food--
cheap,healthy,delicious,fastAlso
food.Question, why are there no fast-casual Indian places?
I would love the Chipotle of Curry. I’d be there as often as my middle-aged white-boy digestive tract would permit.
It’s called Tandoor.
Curry up now exists. There’s not many but they are growing.
I just wish they wouldn’t put so much sugar in everything :(
They exist. They’re just not chains.
It’s common to have a lunchtime buffet that simply puts out curries and charges for access to the table. Just not convenient for takeout since curry is tricky to transport.
I once heard about a system around Mumbai where one village routinely cooked lunches (curry, rice, etc), and ferried them via metal tankards by train to a neighboring town/city where people were working.
Closet I can think of is Masala
Not sure if its national, but in the Midwest, we have Naf Naf Grill, which is like the Chipotle of middle eastern food. Delicious by fast food standards, and I don’t get why middle eastern / mediterranean food isn’t bigger in the US. And to your point specifically, Indian food seems like it would fit the same template really well!
Cava is the far superior Mediterranean casual place. If you’ve got one near, highly recommend.
I’ve had plenty of fast casual falafel wraps…but I would love some line-service curry and rice. And somosas.
Roti is pretty much the Indian Chipotle, but it’s so-so.
I wish Indian food were cheap around here. We have a healthy number of Indian immigrants and several restaurants, but they’re pricey. Delicious, worth it, but not cheap. And come to think of it, not terribly healthy, at least the way I order.
The good, cheap places you kind of had to hear about from people in the know.
There was one food truck on a university campus run by an amazing, nice guy from southern India. He gave you enough vegetarian, delicious food for two meals for the price of Big Mac (this was in the 1990s). He would give you food if you were broke. Sadly, he died pretty young from cancer, I think it was.
Sadly ironic. Makes you think why bother eating healthy.
Personally, because it makes a lot of life better. I feel like shit when I eat like shit
I’ve found my own version of the middle path that involves exercise, decent food, and going out drinking. I may not live as long as others or as well as some, but I live to live not just to optimize health or pleasure
I have always had that attitude.
My best friend used to bitch at me for being so careful all the time when I was younger. “Bro, fucking just look at this snake! Quit being afraid of everything. Someone could run your ass over with a car on the walk back home and you’d bleed out wishing you had done something.”
He died at 18 in a car accident.
I mean, well, I always speak that attitude. I’m still not going around looking for danger. I do what I enjoy, which is modest by any standards, but if I wanted to eat nothing but ice cream and weigh 500lbs I would do just that.
No matter what I do, I’ll die. No matter how much I loved or hated it, I won’t remember any of it.
“Don’t take life too seriously, nobody makes it out alive, anyway.”
Versions of that have been attributed to various famous folks, and also versions have been in movies and other media.
Sounds absolutely HORRIBLE, I can’t believe you were expected to live like that 😭😭/s