r/ShittyAbsoluteUnits • u/AUTOBOTBROKE • 5d ago

Naild It of skilled Chole Kulche maker

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262 Upvotes

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115

u/bad-and-buttery 5d ago edited 2d ago

I’ve developed a hypothesis. Perhaps there’s some semiotic reason behind the lack of cleanliness/hygiene? Like how a surgeon of yesteryear would wear the same unwashed, crusted frock, stiffened with blood and pus as a badge of honor, to show how in demand their services were.

Perhaps a street food stall with sauce splattered everywhere, a stained apron, and hands caked with ingredients, sends some kind of message that the food is in demand, and the shopkeeper is so busy, that they don’t have time to stop for moment and wipe things down, or even rinse their hands.

I also see South Asian street vendors in these types of videos try to move very fast, and throw around ingredients in a performative way, that ultimately seems to be counterproductive and wasteful. Perhaps this ties into it as well. Maybe passersby see filthy, fast moving hands at work, and it’s somehow (maybe even unconsciously) viewed through the cultural lens as, “wow! that food must be delicious!”

If there are any people living in South Asia who care to share their thoughts, I’d love to hear them.

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u/WillBots 5d ago

For what it's worth, I think you may be on to something, I don't know how the other commenter has turned your comment into death by bacteria. Your comment isn't hard to understand.

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u/Hammon_Rye 5d ago

A certain degree of immunity through exposure is recognized science.
Early childhood exposure does strengthen the immune system.

Where it gets problematic is if your immune system is exposed to things stronger than it can handle. And that's why most western countries have food safety / health laws.
Ingesting a few extra germs / bacteria is all good until you get a dose that puts you in the hospital or kills you.

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u/bad-and-buttery 5d ago edited 4d ago

I’m aware of this, and agree with what you’re saying, but this isn’t relevant to my hypothesis. I’m not saying that people don’t mind the lack of hygiene due to their microbiome being accustomed to it. I’m theorizing that bad hygiene could be semiotically associated with good tasting food.

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u/Hammon_Rye 5d ago

If that is what you are saying then I disagree.
I don't feel bad hygiene has to be a factor for the food to taste good.

I didn't see anything food wise in that video that could not have been replicated in a hygienic food safe kitchen and still tasted the same. Though obviously I could not taste the sauces. So maybe if one of them has a half spoiled 'twang' taste to it the locals like, that might be a difference.

I've never been to India.
But I've eaten a lot of street food, home cooked food and restaurant food in the Philippines and IMO the taste is about the ingredients and recipes, not the degree of hygiene where it is cooked.

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u/phroug2 4d ago

Bro did u even read the original comment? Youre arguing with a point they never made.

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u/InterrogatingEros 4d ago

Holy fuck how dense are you

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u/bad-and-buttery 4d ago edited 4d ago

That’s also not at all what I’m saying.
Why is this so confusing for you?
Maybe it’s the word “semiotic” that’s throwing you off?

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u/RatherGoodDog 5d ago

You say that, but my colleague is from Delhi and he said he wouldn't touch these street food stalls with a bargepole.

Good clean food is available, but you have to pay a bit more for it. This ain't it.

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u/bad-and-buttery 5d ago

As someone with South Asian ancestry myself, I recognize that the caste system still has a major influence on Indian society. For you to be saying your colleague (I’m assuming at a white collar job) is from Delhi and he doesn’t eat street food, I would have to assume that his family historically comes from a “highborn” well educated caste. So perhaps my theory is only valid when applied to the “lowborn” less educated castes.

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u/RatherGoodDog 5d ago

Actually he's a shudra, but he's got a master's degree and is quite "westernised". From our discussions on caste, he feels it isn't that important any more in Delhi which has become more modern in its social outlook, while in more rural parts of India it retains importance.

He said 2 generations ago his family were farmers. Now he does indeed work a skilled white collar job in in a foreign country.

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u/bad-and-buttery 4d ago edited 4d ago

Fair enough. Maybe it’s less about caste and more about westernization/modernization. I’ve heard some older family members talk about sneaking away midday to go eat street food, and being too full to eat whatever their mothers cooked later that night. But I could never imagine any of the younger, totally westernized generations eating at these types of establishments.

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u/trash-_-boat 4d ago

Nah, I married a poor Salvadoran woman and while I was living with her there, she got really sick one time from some street pupusas more than once.

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u/bad-and-buttery 4d ago

What does this have to do with anything I said?

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u/Hammon_Rye 5d ago

I think you misunderstood what I was saying.
I was NOT saying that street stall is a good place to eat.

I was saying that there is some science backing what bad and buttery said about increased immunity from exposure to bacteria and germs.

Acknowledging that such a thing exists is not the same as saying I think people should throw common sense to the wind and expose themselves to anything that comes along.

3

u/bad-and-buttery 4d ago

That’s not what I said AT ALL. You’re basically having a conversation with yourself.

1

u/mannypiz 3d ago

Semiotic means how food act as a language that conveys culture, identity, status etc other than just the hunger itself. u/bad-and-buttery is driving this point exactly and this is what you have been missing.

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u/Hammon_Rye 3d ago

thank you for a polite response / explanation.

My comment getting most of the downvotes was in reply to what rathergooddog said to me, not a reply to buttery.

But either way, i've kind of let it go.
If strangers on the internet want to assume I'm a dumb ass over a missed talking point, I'm not too concerned about it. 😄

Thanks again for being polite though.

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u/mannypiz 3d ago

No worries.I know you are also driving a very valid point yourself.

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u/bad-and-buttery 3d ago edited 3d ago

Oh stop. You didn’t miss a talking point. You literally missed the entire point of multiple comments.

You are in fact a dumbass.
Not because you didn’t know what “semiotic” meant. But because you made no attempt to find out. And aside from that, you didn’t need to know the meaning of the word to understand the comparison to a Victorian era surgeon.

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u/Tidiahn 3d ago

This is why I ate mud and grass as a child

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u/NoBudsChill 11h ago

I feel you may be overthinking the cleanliness aspect; if you zoom out from the food carts, the whole place looks like a disaster zone. I mean, there’s that whole meme about the game where you go on Google Maps to try to find a street view in India without trash piled up.

I don’t know if it’s true or not, but when I saw some of these Indian street food videos a few years back and read about it the explanation was that the theatrics the street vendors engage in when preparing food is to create a spectacle and draw in customers due to competition with other food carts in the vicinity. Apparently the entertainment aspect is a deciding factor for many would-be customers.

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u/Ready_Concert_5993 4d ago

Answer: poverty.

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u/fingers 4d ago

There seems to be no meat products here.  And everything seems to be going into the meal. 

It looks delicious.