BJP MLC Ramesh Arora from Jammu and Kashmir says ‘momo is a killer’. The Jammu and Kashmir BJP legislator, Mr. Arora said consumption of Chinese foods aggravate headaches and migraines, results in intestinal colitis in which the lining of the large intestine and the rectum gets inflamed and this is also the reason of intestine cancer. The lawmaker Ramesh Arora has ruffled more than a few feathers by demanding a ban on the most popular street foods of India, momo. Mr. Arora has criticized that this fast food is both addictive and a health hazard, and feels that it should be boycotted immediately.
Growing up in New Delhi in the 90s, an era sans mall or multiplex, one of the congregation points of the national capital was the Chanakya Cinema Complex and the Yashwant Place complex. The former housed the Chanakya cinema and one of the most crowded Nirula’s in the city while the latter comprised a somber set of buildings characterized by wide open courtyards and its lower levels.
These basements comprised rows and rows of shops selling a bewildering array of merchandise. Jewels and precious stones glimmered at shop fronts, vying for attention against literal forests of furs-coats, caps and other confections of clashing colors. Given its location in the Capital’s diplomatic portions, a host of travel agencies also had their representatives in the building. Signs inscribed with special alphabets hung outside most of the stores, a testament to the market’s popularity with Soviet expats.
As the years gone by, one saw a few small huts begin to be put up towards one size of the market. Usually fronted by a plastic curtain, these structures were set up by some enterprising momo sellers. The whole scene is that, from customers streaming in and out of stores and stalls, the sellers calling attention to their wares. Although today both Chanakya and Nirula’s are gone but relegated to the scrap heap of history and the occasional nostalgia, the momos remain.
So when someone calls for the banning of an item, especially a food item and which is too much intrinsic to the Indian identity, it’s bound to blow up in his or her face.
But let’s see what happens. When something is related to the matter of health, it is expected that people will accept that. But few doctors have reacted against the ban of the momo in Jammu and Kashmir. Chief Medical Officer of Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research (SBISR) Dr. Pankal Pahwal, said that these foods are not addictive. “They just trigger a satisfying feeling in our brain, and that is why Chinese foods are very popular”.
Mr. Ramesh Arora’s reasoning against the Chinese food momo is also hygiene. “The flour used in making these foods is unhygienic and that it is just steamed to makes it, which is very difficult to digest”. According to him “Our food culture took thousands of years, and the Chinese foods are trying to destroy that since last 30 years”.
