McDonald’s has just scratched the surface of Indian culinary variety

The news that McDonald’s is embroiled in a legal battle over royalties to an Indian joint-venture partner over the marketing of McAloo Tikki Burger abroad puts an important fact on the griddle too: the sizzling hot worldwide appeal of the potato “pattice”, the bedrock of Mumbai street food. The fact, of course, is that the US fast-food giant did not create the basic snack — a potato patty in a bun, famous as vada pav— but merely repackaged the tikki burger for its own menu. That it has overtaken the burger king’s other offerings — including that insipid western potato contender, the hash brown — shows that Indians have their own ideas of what to bite into, whether by the roadside or at a McRestaurant. Given that vegetarianism is now trendy, and chickpeas have captured the west via hummus and harira, it may not be long before ragda pattice is also Mcdubbed and marketed.

Of course, when it comes to transforming potatoes, nobody does it better than Indians. The west merely boils, fries or sautés the tubers, and serves them mashed or sliced as “sides”. Besides spicy tikkis and pattice, Indians imbue potatoes with flavour by mixing them with other vegetables and meats in curries or stuff them in samosas and parathas. The west would do well to learn from the McAloo’s success and realise the true potential of the potato.