Street food: nothing ventured nothing gained? (Part II)

For those of you who adventurously answered "Yes" to yesterday's quiz of the day ("Should I eat this?"), I'm sorry to tell you that you would now probably be bedridden with all sorts of unpleasant symptoms that I feel no need to detail here. I, fortunately, am among those who answered "Hells no! Wait till you're out of sight of the street vendor before dumping in the nearest garbage!"

As a general rule of thumb when considering whether or not I should eat  street food, I first determine whether or not I can actually watch the food being prepared. Is the samosa being friend in front of me? Is the dosa being cooked before my very eyes (much like a crepe)? If the answer is no, I won't eat it--unless of course a friend has already told me that the vendor is reliable or there is a line of people requesting food from that vendor or I'm really, really hungry.

Another gateway question is whether there is any fluid as a component to the dish. As you can see from the picture posted yesterday, a strange greenish fluid seems to permeate throughout. Again, fluid is a dead give-away that said dish will probably make you sick.

And finally, I inspect the food for bugs, making sure to not only review the immediately-visible portion of the food but also making sure to check under the hood, as it were.

If I've watched the food being made, there is no fluid and there are no bugs, I say go for it!

Now yesterday's attempt at street food went all wrong because I approached a vendor who appeared to be making what I mistook for a sweet, solid bun. However, upon pointing and saying "I want that--two please", the vendor then opened the lid on what I had assumed was a garbage can besides him, from which he poured out a dark yellow-green liquid all over my food.  (It was done in one swift motion, I had no chance to stop him) As it turned out the sweet buns were in fact not, solid nor sweet--but rather sickly-looking pastry-crusts filled with assorted sickly-looking vegetables. So I thanked the vendor heartily, kissed my Rs 30 goodbye (about fifty cents) and threw out the food as soon as I turned the corner.


Ok, ok--the close readers in my audience will be wondering how I know that the bun was not sweet if I didn't taste it? Ok, ok, I did break down and have one bite--I mean, c'mon, it just looked so interesting!