The Mithai Monster

Getting Hooked on Indian Sweets…

We all love kaju rolls – the cashew nut mithai which comes in cool cigar shapes with different filling – but I didn’t quite expect a one-year-old Italian-German toddler to be such a fan of this Indian sweetmeat! Call him a Mithai Monster instead of Cookie Monster but he sure loves the desi sweets!

I was at the Hicksville Raj Bhog snack shop, guzzling a vegetarian thali when I saw this family at the next table, also devouring the contents of a thali. They were randomly feeding the little fellow potato sabji from their plates and he was eating this spicy stuff  up as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Ally Watson mentioned that they have never been to India but love Indian food – her husband who is a chef and butcher in NYC often cooks chicken tikka masala and palak paneer, and they love it. As for little Declan,  he eats varied cuisine along with his parents but loves the mithais.  The pictures tell the story.

Need we say more? The Indian culinary revolution is winning devotees, one stomach at a time!