Will usgullas take on rasgullas in India?

With two eastern Indian states already locking ladles over rasgullas, the potential of a third party — possibly even a foreign one — suddenly stealing the actual market with a cheaper, even tastier, alternative cannot be ruled out. There is enough of a cultural spillover domestically and internationally in the east for the rasgulla to have more claimants, and since the proof of the pudding is in the eating — and for some, the pricing — consumers may have the last laugh. In this context, the concern of EU nations about cheaper alternatives from US and Canada sweeping their traditional delicacies off the shelves in 2016 thanks to a recently-signed trade deal points to a similar dilemma. Unless every hungry European buyer is trained to look for GI (geographical indication) tags before tucking into Cumberland sausages, Parmesan cheese and the like, the chances of tasty but inexpensive American or Canadian knock-offs pipping them to the post, or more accurately, the mouth, are high indeed.

The flip side, of course, is the admittedly less likely prospect of European eatables colonising the North American palate once again, inspired by the spectacular success of certain viands from Hamburg, Frankfurt, Naples and Bologna in the past. But after Texmati, will India eventually also have to deal with Usgullas, or Cangullas?