A hot crispy dosae, a spiced potato palya stuffing, and some chutney and sambar by the side. For any Bengalurean, this is a match made in heaven. It's a classic combination that many devour irrespective of the time of day. However, there’s a new version of the masala dosae trending on social media - one with ice cream. And Bengalureans are furious about this unusual mash up.
This social media innovation that has gone viral has a street vendor mashing the masala dosae on a cold stone with vanilla ice cream and converting it into a brand new flavour. Naveen Suresh, food blogger known as bangaloreepicure, is popular for recommending street vendors across the city, but he can’t seem to grasp the idea of this combo.
He says, "It's ridiculous! The combination is so weird. We've always had fusion food available but this is just disrespecting the humble dosae." He points out that a crepe is probably a better choice to add ice cream to.
"Crepe is already sweet and toppings can be added along with any flavour of ice cream. Maybe using that on a cold stone to recreate a new version of ice cream makes sense. Masala dosae, on the other hand, is a savoury dish and to convert it into a sweet one like this is unacceptable," adds Suresh, who has tried a similar combo on RV Road. "I swore not to try it again," he says.
A hotspot among Bengalureans is Vidyarthi Bhavan in Basavanagudi. Owner Arun Adiga, upon hearing about the masala dosae trend, had one thing to say, "Yuck". "There's a lot of innovations happening in the food industry. It's a good thing to experiment because people do tend to get bored with the same thing all the time. But what's the point if it doesn’t taste good?" he wonders.
Adiga says that changing the temperature of the food it's meant to be in takes away from its originality. "I strongly feel that some things should not be experimented with or it will turn into a mess. Masala dosae is meant to be had hot out of the tawa and not as a cold dish," he opines.
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Rishabh Waykole recalls how he stopped scrolling Instagram when he saw the ice cream video. "As someone who enjoys some yummy masala dosae, this was horrifying to watch and know that people are actually purchasing it. Then again, I think people are trying it out to get more views on social media than actually eating it," he says, adding that items like gulab jamun bajji, rooh afza chai, Maggi chai and sev ice cream are other "disgusting" combinations being tried out. "This abomination needs to stop," he says.
Strange food mashups
Gulab Jamun Bajji
Rooh Afza Chai
Rooh Afza Maggi
Sev Ice Cream
Vanilla Ice Cream stuffed in Dosae
Chocolate Sugarcane juice
Momo Ice Cream