View source for Vada pav

{{Short description|Indian fast food item}}
{{pp-sock|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2018}}
{{Infobox food
| name             = Vada pav
|name_lang         = 
|name_italics      = true
| image            = Vada Pav-Indian street food.JPG
| image_size       = 250px
| image_alt        = A plate of vada pav with seasoning of red chilli powder and a green chilli.
| caption          = A plate of vada pav with seasoning of red chilli powder and a green chilli.
| alternate_name   = Vada pao, wada pav, wada pao, pao vada, pav vada, pao wada, pav wada, batata wada pav
| type             = [[Snack]]
| course           =  
| country          = [[India]]
| region           = [[Mumbai]], [[Maharashtra]]
| national_cuisine = [[Indian cuisine|Indian]]
| creator          = Ashok Vaidya and Sudhakar Mhatre
| year             = 1966
| mintime          = 
| maxtime          = 
| served           =
| main_ingredient  = Deep-fried fritter made of mashed potato and spices, bread bun
| minor_ingredient = 
| variations       =
| serving_size     = 
| calories         = 
| calories_ref     =
| protein          = 
| fat              = 
| carbohydrate     = 
| glycemic_index   = 
| similar_dish     =
| other            =
}}

'''Vada pav''', alternatively spelt '''wada pao''', {{pronunciation|Indian-vada-pav-pronunciation.ogg|listen|(|help=no}} is a [[vegetarian]] [[fast food]] dish native to the [[Indian state]] of [[Maharashtra]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/ja/article/in-search-of-indias-football-culture-with-mumbai-fcs-yellow-brigade-3/|title=クリケットの街から眺めるインドサッカー界の未来|trans-title=The future of Indian football seen from the city of cricket|language=ja|website=vice.com|publisher=Vice Japan|first=Kit|last=Caless|date=19 February 2017|access-date=28 February 2023|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128164820/https://www.vice.com/ja/article/ywqwyj/in-search-of-indias-football-culture-with-mumbai-fcs-yellow-brigade|archive-date=28 January 2022}}</ref> The dish consists of a [[Deep frying|deep-fried]] potato dumpling placed inside a [[Bread|bread bun]] (''pav'') sliced almost in half through the middle. It is generally accompanied with one or more [[chutney]]s and a green [[chili pepper]].<ref name=fpj36>{{cite news|title=Famous Vada Pav places in Mumbai|url=http://www.freepressjournal.in/famous-vada-pav-places-in-mumbai/|access-date=10 August 2015|newspaper=[[The Free Press Journal]]|date=30 July 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150817100436/http://www.freepressjournal.in/famous-vada-pav-places-in-mumbai/|archive-date=17 August 2015}}</ref> Although it originated as an affordable [[Street food of Mumbai|street food]] in [[Mumbai]], it is now served in food stalls and restaurants across [[India]]. It is also called '''Bombay burger'''<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bhattacharya|first1=Suryatapa|title=The world's best fast food|url=https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/the-world-s-best-fast-food-1.521775|website=The National|access-date=27 September 2017|date=12 January 2010}}</ref> in keeping with its origins and its resemblance in physical form to a [[Veggie burger|burger]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sankari |first1=Rathina |title=Meet Mumbai's Iconic Veggie Burger |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/11/04/500539626/meet-mumbais-iconic-veggie-burger |access-date=5 November 2020 |work=[[NPR]] |date=November 4, 2016 |language=en}}</ref>

The most famous snack in [[Mumbai]], vada pav is claimed to be a part of the culture of [[Mumbaikar|Mumbaikars]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sarma|first1=Ramya|title=In Search of Mumbai Vada Pav|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/article3657300.ece|work=The Hindu|access-date=27 January 2015}}</ref><ref name="Graves"/>

==Etymology==
''[[Batata vada]]'' in [[Marathi language|Marathi]] literally means "potato fritter". It is a combination of the word for "potato" (''batata'') and ''[[vada (food)|vada]]'', a type of fried savoury snack. ''Pav'' is a derivative of the [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] word ''pão'', which means bread.

==History==
The most common theory of the vada pav's origin is that it was invented in the erstwhile mill-heartland of Central [[Mumbai]]. 
Ashok Vaidya of [[Dadar]] is often credited with starting the first vada pav stall outside [[Dadar railway station]] in 1966.<ref name="vaidya">{{cite news |last1=Mahadevan |first1=Asha |title=Nearly 50 years since its invention, the story of the vada pav hits the big screen at Jio MAMI |url=https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/nearly-50-years-since-its-invention-the-story-of-the-vada-pav-hits-the-big-screen-at-jio-mami-2487580.html |access-date=5 November 2020 |work=Firstpost |date=30 October 2015}}</ref><ref name="histoy-TOI">{{cite news |last1=Shankar |first1=Kartikeya |title=Vada Pav: History of the Popular Mumbai Snack |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/food-news/vada-pav-history-of-the-popular-mumbai-snack/articleshow/76973714.cms |access-date=5 November 2020 |work=The Times of India |date=Jul 15, 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="scott thesis"/>{{rp|34}} Some sources credit Sudhakar Mhatre who started his business around the same time.<ref name="World Vadapav Day loksatta">{{cite news |last=Ghangale |first=Swapnil |title=World Vadapav Day: जन्मापासून लंडनपर्यंत मजल मारण्यापर्यंतची वडापावची कहाणी |url=https://www.loksatta.com/do-you-know-news/world-vada-pav-day-journey-from-mumbai-popular-street-food-to-london-scsg-91-2253519/ |access-date=5 November 2020 |work=Loksatta |date=23 August 2020 |language=mr-IN}}</ref> One of the earliest kiosks selling vada pav is said to be ''Khidki Vada Pav'', located in [[Kalyan]]. It was started in the late 1960s by the Vaze family, who used to hand out vada pavs from a window (''Khidki'') of their house facing the road.<ref name="World Vadapav Day loksatta"/>

The [[carbohydrate]]-rich snack catered to the [[cotton mill]] workers of what was then known as [[Girangaon]]. This [[potato]] dumpling (''batata vada'') placed inside a [[Bread roll|''pav'']] was quick to make, cheap (~10-15 [[paisa]] in 1971<ref name="World Vadapav Day loksatta"/><ref name=NYT-best/>), and more convenient than the [[Bombay potato|batata bhaji]] and [[chapati]] combination, which could not be eaten in overcrowded local trains.<ref name="histoy-TOI"/><ref name="World Vadapav Day loksatta"/>

===Cultural importance===
The [[Great Bombay textile strike|closing of textile mills]] in central Mumbai led to turmoil in the 1970s. [[Shiv Sena (1966–2022)|Shiv Sena]], the homegrown party formed during this transformative time, based itself as a party with mill workers' interests.<ref name="jamboree">{{cite journal |last1=Solomon |first1=Harris Scott |title="THE TASTE NO CHEF CAN GIVE": Processing Street Food in Mumbai |journal=Cultural Anthropology |date=May 4, 2015 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=65–90 |doi=10.14506/ca30.1.05 |url=https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.14506/ca30.1.05 |access-date=5 November 2020 |language=en |issn=1548-1360|doi-access=free |hdl=10161/10126 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
The party chief, [[Balasaheb Thackeray]], encouraged [[Marathi people]] in the 1960s to become entrepreneurs, i.e. start food stalls in ways similar to the [[Dravidian peoples|South Indians]] setting up [[Udupi cuisine|Udupi restaurants]].<ref name="vaidya"/><ref name="histoy-TOI"/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Doctor |first1=Vikram |title=An attitude to serve: Why Marathi food lost out |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/the-leisure-lounge/an-attitude-to-serve-why-marathi-food-lost-out/articleshow/3047664.cms |access-date=5 November 2020 |work=The Economic Times |date=May 17, 2008}}</ref> Shiv Sena attempted to physically and ideologically claim the streets through agitations as well as neighborhood-level events such as ''vada pav sammelan'' ("vada pav jamborees").<ref name="scott thesis">{{cite thesis |last1=Solomon |first1=Harris Scott |title=Life-Sized: Food and the Pathologies of Plenty in Mumbai |chapter= Chapter 1. Fast Food Nationalism: Cleaning Mumbai’s streets with the vada pav |type=PhD |location=Providence, Rhode Island |date=May 2011 |institution=[[Brown University]] |doi=10.7301/Z0Q23XH9 |oclc=934517131 |chapter-url=https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:11264/ |access-date=5 November 2020 |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|28}}<ref name="jamboree"/> This theme has continued even in recent years, as with the 2009 introduction of the "Shiv vada pav".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pawar |first1=Yogesh |title=Shiv Sena's vada pav strategy |url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/shiv-senas-vada-pav-strategy-396415 |access-date=5 November 2020 |work=NDTV.com |date=June 19, 2009}}</ref>

==Variations and commercialization==
There are over 20,000 stalls selling vada pav in Mumbai.<ref>{{cite news |title=वडापाव... बस्स..! |url=https://www.lokmat.com/manthan/story-about-vadapav-mumbai-a653/ |access-date=9 February 2022 |work=Lokmat |date=6 February 2022 |language=mr-IN}}</ref> Mumbai alone has many variations of the food based on the locality.<ref name=NYT-best/> Large fast food restaurant chains such as Kunjvihar Jumbo King in [[Mulund]] and [[Goli Vada Pav]] also primarily serve vada pav.<ref name=NYT-best>{{cite news |last1=Thirani |first1=Neha |title=Searching For the World's Best Vada Pav |url=https://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/searching-for-the-worlds-best-vada-pav/ |access-date=5 November 2020 |work=India Ink |publisher=[[The New York Times]] |date=5 October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Narasimhan |first1=Anand |last2=Dogra |first2=Aparna Mohan |title=Goli Vada Pav story |publisher=IMD business school |work=The Financial Times |date=September 4, 2012 |url=https://www.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/goli-vada-pav-story/ |access-date=5 November 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Outside of Mumbai, a variant of vada pav is ''pav vada'', which is famous in [[Nashik]].

Annually, August 23 is celebrated as World Vada Paav Day.<ref>{{cite news |title=World Vada Pav Day 2020: Mumbai's 'fastest fast food' is eaten by many, remembered by a few |url=https://www.freepressjournal.in/mumbai/world-vada-pav-day-eaten-by-many-remembered-by-a-few |access-date=5 November 2020 |work=Free Press Journal |date=23 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

==Preparation==
A boiled potato is mashed and mixed with chopped green chilli and [[garlic]], [[Mustard seed|mustard seeds]], and spices (usually [[asafoetida]] and [[turmeric]]). The mass is then shaped into a ball, dipped into [[gram flour]] batter and deep-fried. The resulting [[fritter]] is placed inside a bread bun, and served with one or more [[chutney]]s, most commonly a spicy '''lasun-khobara''' (garlic-coconut) chutney, along with fried green chilli.<ref name="Graves">{{cite news|last1=Graves|first1=Helen|title=Vada pav sandwich recipe|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/oct/03/vada-pav-sandwich-recipe-potato-chutney|website=The Guardian|date=3 October 2013 |publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|access-date=27 January 2015}}</ref>

==Gallery==
{{Gallery
|title= |align= |footer= |style= |state = |height= |width= |captionstyle=
| File:Mumbai Vada Pav.jpg | alt1= | Pictorial description of the ingredients and recipe of vada pav.
| File:Vada Pav.jpg | alt2= | One batata (potato) vada, two vada pavs, raw green chillies, and seasoning of red garlic chutney.
| File:VadaPaav.JPG | alt3= |Vada pav served with a side of green chilli pepper, red peanut and [[garlic chutney]], and green chutney.
| File:Reliance Market, Mysore.jpg | alt4= | Vada Pavu (local variant of spelling) and a cup of tea in [[Mysuru]].
}}
{{commons category|Vada Pav}}

==See also==
{{portal|Food}}
{{Wiktionary}}

* [[Aloo tikki]]
* [[Chinese bhel]]
* [[List of sandwiches]]
* [[Veggie burger]]
* [[Misal pav]]
* [[Pav bhaji]]
* [[Bun kebab]]
* [[Dabeli]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Street food}}
{{Sandwiches}}
{{Potato dishes}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vada pav}}
[[Category:Indian cuisine]]
[[Category:Maharashtrian cuisine]]
[[Category:Street food in India]]
[[Category:Indian fast food]]
[[Category:Vegetarian sandwiches]]
[[Category:Vegetarian dishes of India]]
[[Category:Potato dishes]]