Would you try this flaming Indian street food?
A common Indian snack evolves into a flaming trend on the streets of India...
We've heard many people who have travelled say that if you are going to try street food in India, then make sure it is hot.
We assume the reasoning behind their advice is that when food is hot, it is unlikely to give you food poisoning.
And as much as that advice may not be as solid as we would like it to be, it sounds more logical than letting someone put their hands in your mouth, which is what is happening with the new Flaming Paan trend hitting the streets of India.
"A new trend is sweeping India that’s taking a common Indian snack to flaming extremes: fire paan. The practice of eating fire paan began with the practice of chewing paan. Paan, from the Sanskrit word parna meaning leaf, is made by wrapping betel nut (the seed that comes from the fruit of the areca palm) inside betel leaves with slaked lime and spices such as fennel, clove, cardamom, and aniseed." (Matadornetwork)
Paan is not unfamiliar to us in South Africa. If you visit the Blue Lagoon or the North Beach area in Durban, you can find it neatly wrapped in foil.
There is also the betel nut or Chippia as many call it that many people enjoy with a white paste called Lime.
But even though it is a popular snack for Durbanites, we're not certain we would want someone shoving it in our mouth, albeit with flames.
Check out the video below, courtesy of Instagram.
For more from East Coast Radio
"Fire paan is what you get when you take traditional paan and then set it ablaze. When and where this fiery iteration originated isn’t entirely clear. Some sources have traced it back to a paan shop called Galaxy Paan in the city of Rajkot in the state of Gujarat on the west coast of India. The owner of the shop, who claims to have invented fire paan, says it took more than a month to perfect the recipe and technique." (Matadornetwork)
Although the origins of fire paan aren't set in stone, the street snack, fire paan, became popular around 2015/2016 when social media posts spread like, well, wildfire.
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Image Courtesy of Instagram