Described on CNN Travel as a crispy, golden-brown noodle-like snack, bhujia is sold everywhere from roadside stalls to high-end cocktail bars in India. However, only in Bikaner, a city in the state of Rajasthan near India's northwestern border, is bhujia recognized as authentic.
This snack is really delicious, the main ingredient is a local bean. However, bhujia can also be substituted with other ingredients like potatoes. Bikaner has never been short of ingredients to make this dish. Locals usually start work as early as 4 am to make bhujia and can produce up to 250 tonnes of bhujia before the end of the day.
Bhujia is really delicious, made from a local bean called "moth flour" or wheat flour, seasoned with traditional spices. Another popular variation - aloo bhajia - replaces the flour with potatoes
A dish associated with 150 years of history
The story begins in 1877, when the King of Bikaner, Shri Dungar Singh, asked the royal kitchen to prepare a quick savoury dish to entertain guests at the palace and the royal chefs came up with bhujia. Word of bhujia spread quickly and soon many local households started making it. In 1946, a local entrepreneur, Ganga Bishan Agarwal, opened a small shop selling the snack. After a decade, Agarwal left the town and bhujia became more popular. Many entrepreneurs traced the origin of the dish and began to discover the magic of bhujia.
Today, most of the bhujia manufacturing businesses are based in Bikaner. However, this does not mean that bhujia can be made anywhere. For those who are addicted to this dish, only Bhujia from Bikaner is the “real thing” that is true to its original quality.
Bikaner is the capital of bhujia snacks
In 2010, bhujia was given a locational designation by the Indian government due to its popularity. Now only establishments located in Bikaner are allowed to use the word 'Bikaneri' on the label of their bhujia packets (also known as bhujia Bikaneri), just like Champagne is only available in one region of France.
Despite its popularity, bhujia is a small-scale industry in Bikaner. It currently provides employment to around 2.5 million people, mostly women, in the villages of the region.
From a beloved local brand to a global brand
CNN Travel quoted Deepak Agarwal, a descendant of the Ganga Bishan family - the "big guys" of Bikaneri bhujia village today: "The miracle is the air, the arid climate here."
“While the rest of the family moved away, my father decided to settle here and start his own business. You cannot get the same taste of bhujia in Bikaner even if you export the raw material from here to make it elsewhere,” says Deepak Agarwal.
“The arid climate, a special red chilli called longi mirch, combined with local spices and the salty water of the area are also key ingredients in making this snack,” he added.
According to Dr. Chef Saurabh, Bikaneri bhujia is not just a dish but an emotion. There is a difference in taste when enjoyed at its origin. And Bikaneri bhujia is a perfect example.
Today, most of the bhujia manufacturing businesses are from Bikaner.
And now bhujia snacks are going global. In 2019, international food giant Kellogg's attempted to buy a stake in Haldiram Snacks, Bikaner's top-selling snack maker, although the deal was later scrapped. PepsiCo tried to launch its own bhujia product in 1996. The masala-spiced product, called Lehar, couldn't compete with Bikaneri classics and eventually disappeared from store shelves.
In far flung places, bhujia can be found on the shelves of Walmart in New Jersey and this makes the devotees of this dish really happy.
"There are a lot of Indians living here. We can find it not only in Walmart and Indian stores but also on Amazon. I sometimes have bhujia with a burger or sandwich. Indian cuisine can blend with foreign cuisines and it's great," said Aartee Sodhani, an Indian immigrant to New Jersey.
For Ms. Sodhani and other Indians abroad, bhujia has taken Indian flavors around the world. And bhujia has emerged from the desert alleys of a small town in northwest India to become a global dish.
