Delhi food historian Pushpesh Pant recalls a 27-paise dosa

A masala dosa at a Connaught Place coffee house cost Pushpesh Pant 27 paise when he arrived in Delhi for his PhD in the mid-1960s. The food historian, who now lives in Dwarka, also remembers buying four rotis, half a plate of sabzi and free dal for 70 paise at Azad Dhaba in Shankar Market.

Pant was a student at the Indian School of International Studies, later part of JNU’s School of International Studies, and lived at Sapru House hostel. He recalls that during food controls linked to the 1966-67 Bihar drought, the hostel served a cereal-free meal once a week, with millets, vegetables and fruit instead of rice or wheat.

After he began teaching at Ramjas College in 1969, Pant explored Tibetan Dhaba, Chandni Chowk and the Jama Masjid area. He remembers Old Famous Jalebiwala for its samosa-jalebi combination and Sheeren Bhawan for puri with aloo-chholey.

Pant says migration has reshaped the capital’s street food, citing the spread of momos, litti chokha, Champaran mutton and Moradabadi biryani. These changing food routes later informed his book, *From the King’s Table To Street Food*.