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ABSTRACT
The street foods of India form an integral part of its living heritage, with family owned restaurants offering food prepared using authentic recipes passed on over generations. Despite the popularity of international and fusion cuisines in India in recent years, the regional street foods are extremely popular amongst the local residents as well as tourists. It is important to explore how this living heritage resource can drive regional development and revival of the local heritage and culture. A case study of the street foods of Old Delhi has been undertaken to analyse these interrelationships and suggest possible sustainable approaches.
INTRODUCTION
Gastronomy1 is culinary art that entails exploring the association of culture and food. Invariably a union of food with beverages, it is a science that enlightens on aspects of history, culture, sociology, chemistry, psychology and literature. Hence, it can be argued to be a very multifaceted activity. Traditional culinary practices have been handed down over generations, making them a living heritage resource that must be protected in order to boost the local economy.
The 'Slow Food Movement' was initiated in Rome in 1986. It drew up the objectives of protection of local gastronomic traditions, building networks among small scale producers and consumers and imparting the wisdom of local food as well as safeguarding the local community and environment (Parkins & Craig 2006). The cultural movement came in to existence to oppose the growth of American standardised processed food units and neutralise the growing fast way of life that opening of McDonald's outlets were causing. The movement spread across 130 countries with a fraternity size of about 0.1 million individual members (Petrini 2009). The criticality of passing on a culture of sustainable food system to coming generations and emphasis on food production being at the heart of our environmental problem were some areas of concern (Petrini 2009). The broader sense of slow food is argued as a practice where the consumption of food is an affair of culture, individual identities and it is seen as an aesthetical distinction (Conroy & Martin 2010). Based on individual likes and dislikes, consumption patterns and heritage, Pietrykowski (2004), understands the slow food movement to be means of creating social economics. The same argument was further developed, resulting...