From Dosa to Kheer: Social media on what India should pick as its national dish

When it comes to the national symbols, India has it all. We have a national emblem, anthem, song, flower, fruit, river, tree, animal, bird, and even a national calendar and allegiance. Everything, except one: a national dish.

The idea might even sound absurd to some, but as it turns out, almost every country has one . It’s Hamburgers for the US, Bulgogi for Korea, Pot-au-Feu for France, Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding for England, Irish Stew for Ireland, and so on.

But, India, with perhaps the one of the richest cuisines on offer in the world has been unable to pick one, and understandably so.

As author Nilanjana Roy notes in her piece for Outlook , “Given the number of contenders from biriyani-pulao to tandoori chicken to bhelpuri to dosas and paranthas — and the infinite variety of regional variations — we could spark off the desi version of the Boston Tea Party: the Indian Chai and Curry Riots”. It is certainly not an easy task.

It is almost impossible to pick a single dish to represent the entire nation without imposing upon, offending and outraging a large section of society.

Another piece by author Shoba Narayan asked chefs across India what would they pick for the national dish, and as one would expect, no consensus was reached.

The same question was put forward on Reddit and Quora , which resulted in some interesting responses:

Dosa seem to be the one of the front runner for the place.

Quora user Vishnu Rajamanickam puts his case for Dosa, “Unlike the other dishes, this originated nearly a thousand years back, with the Sanskrit classic Manasollasa (1051 AD) by Western Chalukya king Somesvara III describing dosai as a dish prepared from rice batter.”

Roti or chapati is another favorite.

Quora user Bhushan Reddy writes, “It should be Indian Roti,why because Indian roti is a food item which is eaten by many Indians (some times along with the rice) and is generally made from wheat flour and is a staple diet in most parts of our country.”

Reddit user woosteresque writes, “I think chapati/roti and dal is made in almost every state in some form or another… as far as I’ve noticed, throughout India there is always some kind of alternate version of dal/roti.”

Other popular choices included Kheer (a user even went ahead and listed 33 variations of the dish), dal, pani puri, samosa and biryani.

Another popular choice, ironically, was Maggi noodles.

It seems with unlimited dishes, come unlimited opinions. Picking a national dish seems far more complicated than one would imagine and the government is highly unlikely to make a move on it any time soon.

But with everyone weighing in on the matter, what would be your choice?