America’s Best Restaurant Pays Homage to India’s Favorite Snack Food

In India, the story of street food has several twists at the top. For one thing, its first consumers weren’t exhausted workers on their lunch break but commodity traders looking for a late dinner. For another, the country’s most popular snack, pav bhaji, can be traced to the 1860s and the far away American Civil War. The history of the dish, unbeknownst to most Indians, even includes an important cameo appearance by Portuguese traders and missionaries.