Rail travel in India food · Food in Rail travel in India
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Food in Rail travel in India
Food in Rail travel in India
Hot food is available at mealtimes on almost every train in India. The food is mostly prepared in kitchens at railway stations and then loaded onto the train, either onto a pantry carriage attached to the train (on most important trains), or just brought on board by waiters and distributed directly to passengers. In most cases, a waiter collects orders an hour or two before mealtimes and if you don't place an order, you may be left out in the cold. However, in trains having a pantry car, breakfast is prepared on board the train and you do not have to place an order beforehand. You can tell which trains have a pantry car because there is a P listed with the classes available in Trains at a Glance. Meals available for lunch and dinner are generally vegetarian and non-vegetarian thalis (rice, dal, a vegetable (chicken or fish curries for non-veg thalis), yogurt (often sour), chapatis and occasionally, a sweet dish) or (veg/egg/chicken) biryani. Chilli chicken (sweet and sour chicken wings with chillis) is often available. Breakfast normally onsists of vegetable cutlet (a veggie patty) and bread, or omelet and bread. Pantry car service always includes the sale of tea, coffee, cold drinks and "namkeen" (chips and other salty snacks). Note that while pantry cars mostly re-distribute food, they do have a small kitchen and, if you're sick of the daal/chappati that shows up in the thali, it doesn't hurt to visit the pantry car and see if they can rustle up an omlet or some fresh chicken curry with parathas. The quality of food varies, with the fare being better in the South and West. Moreover, concepts of hygiene, taste, cuisine changes from region to region.
Most pantry cars and restaurants at stations are now managed by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) ). IRCTC provides satisfactory quality and hygienic food aboard trains and at stations. IRCTC kiosks are ubiquitous where one can find snacks/breakfast/packed foods/ biscuits/ cookies/ mineral water etc. IRCTC also operates world class restaurants called Comesum at important stations.
On the Rajdhanis and Shatabdis, all meals are included in the fare and are served at your seat at mealtimes.
If you are finicky, bring enough food and bottled water for the journey including delays: bananas, bread, and candy bars are good basics to have. Most important stations will have vendors selling all kinds of edible stuff, but the usual caveats about eating in India apply. Often, snacks and food reflect local specialities and, in the case of cooked food, are quite safe to eat.
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Rail travel in India Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.