Table for All with Buki Elegbede

- If you've ever taken a yoga class, tried vegetarianism, or thought about meditation, you owe it all to the Indian culture.

This big, bold and beautiful culture has spread their traditions, their face and their foods across the world.

Today, we're serving up a healthy dose of India.

New Jersey has one of the largest populations of Indians residing in the state.

If I'm going to learn anything about this culture, this is the place.

We start with Bollywood, India's iconic cinema, developed in the 1930s.

Bollywood has become a benchmark of the culture known for their massive choreographed dance numbers.

I'm meeting with Sawhill Verma, proud Indian-American and dancer of over 20 years.

He's invited me to the Bollywood funk dance studio, where he's been teaching Bollywood dance since 2013.

Is it called Bollywood dance or is it, or is there specific?

- It is called Bollywood dance styles.

India is full of multiple dance forms, but Bollywood pertains to what we do in, in the popular cinema.

It's like Bollywood is like, you know, the dance form is not like you just sit and do it.

Like, it's just a lot of like movements as you'll see, we're gonna like, you know, we burn like about like eight to 900 calories in a class.

It's crazy.

Yeah.

- I'm ready to burn.

- If you leave without sweating, I'll be surprised.

[chuckles] [electronic music playing] That's when we saw the popularity grow, because you are just here in the moment.

You feel it.

You come here from work, and you just forget your troubles, your body, you know, you listen to the music, your mind, everything just flows into what we call Bollywood.

It's just, it, it just takes over you.

- I mean, you've been here for, since 2013.

- Yeah.

- Do you still believe in the American dream?

- I do.

I actually totally imbibe it, I naturalized and dual citizenship, because I truly believe in the Liberty and the opportunity that this country provides.

- Now, was one of your dreams to be a dance instructor?

- Yes.

I always wanted to be a dance teacher.

I don't give out just instruction.

I feel I'm responsible for my students, so that they're able to become better dancers and performers, that they are more confident and they are able to go dance at social events, maybe for their, you know, some, some like at a wedding or like at just a birthday party or any, anywhere.

I'm a very energetic person in general.

I'm hyper.

- I feel it, I feel it.

- It allows me to be myself and connect with my culture at the same time.

Five, six, seven, eight, one full, two, three, four.

Five, six, seven eight.

[instrumental music playing] - I need that's lower.

Repeat one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

- Okay.

- How long do we dance?

- One hour.

- One hour?

- Okay.

[instrumental music playing] - Sawhill and the crew thoroughly whoop my touch into Bollywood shape.

I'm ready for my Bollywood audition, but most importantly, I'm ready to eat.

Now, we're talking about India, the second largest population on Earth.

The cuisine is as varied as the culture, but we're all friends here, So I'll let you in a little secret.

You can sample it all without leaving Jersey city.

This two block stretch is known as Little India and I'm getting a new taste bud spare tour, courtesy of Varun and his girlfriend Aditi.

Varun is heir apparent to his family's beloved Indian restaurant, Akbar.

So whatever they recommend, I'm ready to try.

You guys are telling me that every state has a different food and that's all represented here in Jersey city.

- Yeah.

- And on this two, three block radius in Jersey city, you can pop into multiple restaurants and have tried kind of a taste of India.

In the south, one of the more popular dishes is Dosa which we will try today.

And just depending on what part of the state or country you're in, it'll taste different.

- So I'm from Punjab.

- Punjab.

- So, I'm north Indian, there's curries and rice dishes, stuff of that nature.

- On my father's side, I'm Gujarati, and on my mother's side, she's from Uttar Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh is in the north.

The Gujarati food tends to be sweeter, they have a lot of your street snacks, they are from there as well.

- Love a street snack, yeah.

- Yeah.

- Here we go.

Up first on the tour, Szechaun Mirchi, one of Aditi's favorite spots.

- So Indo-Chinese, This is the first time I've ever heard of it, somebody explain.

- Indo-Chinese is actually my favorite cuisine, I order from here all the time.

- Now, is this in India?

When you go back to India, you're having Indo-Chinese?

- Yes.

Every time I go to visit my family in India, the first thing I do when I land, I call them up, I say, "I want Indo-Chinese on the table immediately".

My mom tells me a story about how, when they were younger and she was in college, they would go to these places called Tibbs, that's in Delhi.

- Yes, it was Tibbs and dabbas, I believe it was called.

And they had, basically what we would look, as soup dumplings or dumplings themselves called momos, which is a very popular Indo-Chinese dish now, as well.

- You like to try our mango lassi?

- What is that?

- Is really good, this is yogurt and a mango mixed.

- Mango lassi is popular all throughout India.

It's also a really fun drink that if you're at Indian weddings or Indian festivals, this is like one of the most popular drinks that they'll have to the side of the bar for people to try.

- Nice.

- It also breaks down the spice to many spicy dishes.

- Yeah.

- It's very sweet.

- Now I am a spice assassin, so that won't be necessary, but I won't say no to the world's best mango smoothie.

- Yeah, it's good, It's really good.

- Quite nice.

Smoothie action.

[chuckles] - Chicken lollipop.

- Wow.

- What's the sauce in the center?

- This is basically, we make a spicy meal sauce.

- Okay.

- Mm.

- That is very good.

- It's such a unique blend of both of the flavors.

- It has a great- really is.

Yeah, it really is.

- What's your go-to order.

- I tend to veer towards vegetarian items.

- You really missing out on.

- So this is an okra preparation.

- It's purely vegetarian and a very less spice, salted in a Chinese tank.

- We have okra in Nigeria, but we don't eat okra whole.

We actually, like, blend ours up.

- Oh, interesting.

- And actually put them in our soups.

I'm gonna be so improper and eat with my hand.

- I'm definitely [indistinct] - It's actually encouraged.

- Is it?

- Yes.

The way that you eat, it's like it's connected to all your senses.

So, when you eat with your hands, you're getting a more fuller experience.

- Hands it is.

I love that idea of connecting with your food through all senses.

- And that's the difference, is the onion, the scions, the sauce that it's in, is what Indo-Chinese is all about.

- My parents, they came to India in the 1960s during the war with the Tibet and China.

So that's how I was born in India.

That was like the Northern part of India.

- So, when she was mentioning what her mom was eating, was that resonating with you?

- Exactly, yeah.

- So what does this, what does this food mean to you?

What do you think about when you're whipping up these dishes?

- This means everything for me, because I was growing up with this food, you know, so making and then serving and, then eating.

So this is what I do all the time.

- You do it well.

- Yeah, this was very good.

- Thank you, thank you.

- My favorite cuisine introduce people to, because most people in this country don't even know it exists.

- Give us more.

Can we give us more?

- There's more, there was much more, and we're only on stop number one.

- I hope you came hungry.

- So this is fried chicken, with red and green pepper.

- Thank you.

- There's a little bit of spicy.

- Oh, I'm all for spice.

- Oh, that a good kick to it.

[chuckles] - Have the Lassi if you need it.

- Good.

- That is very good.

- Delicious.

I'm so happy we got to try it, because literally, no clue this actually existed.

- Yeah.

But you know, just given the geographical location of both countries being so close together, there's just a lot of sharing of a lot of the same spices and ingredients.

- First stop down, and I already don't wanna leave, but I'm dying to taste what's next.

800 miles and a magic carpet ride later, and we're in Southern India at Dosa House.

I'm kidding.

We just crossed the street.

That's the real magic of little India, Every single region of India is represented here.

No carpet needed.

Where are we?

- Dosa House.

- We're in Dosa House.

- This is a Dosa.

There are many different types, but the best description for it, is it's kind of like a savory crepe paper.

Dosas are thinner, masala dosas are usually filled with some kind of spiced potato mixture.

- Got it.

- And then you break it off.

- Got it.

And do we now what is this filled?

It's in here.

- We'll have to take a look at.

- Oh, we're gonna have to take a look.

- Break it off, you grab a little bit of mixture - And just dip it into the summer.

Oh, yeah.

It could be lunch, it could be dinner, all throughout the day.

I know people who have it for breakfast.

- That is a Masala Dosa.

- That's Masala Dosa.

- Masala Dosa.

- There is onions and green chilies in here.

- In the batter?

- Yeah, in the batter itself.

- Ooh.

- And let's try this.

Ooh, this is a lot crispier, this one and there you can see the green chili right there.

- Wow.

- Wow, okay.

It's of potato.

- I got a little bit of the potato.

Let's try that out, yeah.

- Oh, yeah.

- Yeah.

That right there.

- Is it?

I'm literally floored by these.

And what is this called?

This potato?

- It's just the Masala's filling.

I don't know if there's a particular name for this standalone.

- It's delicious.

- Yeah, it's delicious, that's the name.

- First of all, Western mashed potatoes.

[chuckles] - That is the best way to put it.

- Indian people know what they're doing when it comes to unique and flavorful ingredients.

If I've learned anything from traveling, it's this, if you wanna learn about a culture, find out where they shop for groceries.

Stop number three, the big bizarre grocery.

I mean, you guys grew up with this, like, I'm not finding like lay potato chips in your house.

- No, my mom has a nice pantry full of like these type of snacks.

- And it's like 20 bags of variety of everything.

- What you would find are the Lay's magic masala chips.

- Which I'm hoping is here, because it is my favorite chip of all time.

- Cool.

Are you as big into rice as we are?

- Absolutely.

And I think you can see that, by the amount of the rice.

- And it is rice all the way down.

- I live for rice.

- And then, here you have almond butter, which is popular in India.

- Oh yes, almond butter and almond cheese.

- It can be only found in India.

- Wow, I should have brought a basket.

[chuckles] - Now, is this where you come and grab all your produce?

These local markets?

- Absolutely.

What's really unique about these Indian marketplaces is that they carry those ingredients from Asia that you don't get in your normal, big chain, grocery store.

- like this, what is this guy?

- This is Karela, which is a bitter gourd, and it's name is that it's very, very bitter, but it's very, very healthy for you.

- So, this is like Indian ramen.

- Yes, Indian ramen.

- Indian ramen is the best way to put it.

- Wow.

- It has these spice packets just like ramen, but with the Indian flavors, and it's my favorite midnight snack.

- All right, I'll grab this too.

- Right here, we just have a nice little mix of things that come from all over the country, but here's a very unique one, methi leaves.

- These guys?

- Yeah, those are different.

- Very different.

- They're from India and give a good smell.

- It's kind of in the cilantro family.

- Yeah, the best part about it is the sauce, obviously.

When you put in cinnamon, and powder, Indian powders, and all that stuff, somehow all those flavors come together and make one beautiful dish.

- While Varun packs my groceries in his car, what a gentleman, Aditi takes me to a little shop that's selling holistic Indian essentials, as well as giving us a lesson on their spiritual practices.

- What's really fun about this area is that there's a variety of different types of shop.

- It smells so good in here.

- I know.

- And this is where you come for festive stuff.

- Hindu festivities.

Every day we have to light incense, so we have different fragrance of incenses to lift the spirits.

- Do you guys carry like, you know, oils and things for health and things like that?

- Yes, we do.

We carry a variety type of products, which is like turmeric, neem.

That's good for, you know, the intake of health.

- You know, it's funny, everybody, everyone's mother is obsessed with their essential oils and their diffusers.

And I'm like folks, the Indians have been doing that for generations.

- And thank you for mentioning that from a wellness standpoint, if you want to just tranquil the energy in a calm manner, essential oils are very, very good, and different frankincense, saldalwood, jasmine, a lot of beautiful smells.

- Would you say the Indian culture is, I guess, one of the more spiritual?

- Yes, there's no set pattern or any special place of worship, is the body minus of connected without utmost energy.

- When I'm hearing all this from the essential oils, the crystals, I mean, the Western culture has snatched all this.

Do you feel like, not that it was like robbed from you, because you still have it, but as a form of cultural appropriation, how do you feel about that?

Especially with no one's giving you credit for it.

- Yeah, I think that's a really interesting question.

And one that's very nuanced.

You understand, being also from a minority and ethnic community in this country, a lot of times we see other people reach success in what we've been doing our whole lives and not acknowledging where it comes from, and I think as long as someone is practicing it appropriately, while giving acknowledgement for where the practice come from, then it's absolutely appreciation, not appropriation, and it would be nice if they start to recognize that this has come from south Asia, this is where this practice originated.

And hopefully, now that you ask that question, more people will start to pay attention to that.

- Would you look at that?

I know so much about India already, and I didn't even know it.

Hey, this walking tour is paying off.

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you.

- Thank you for coming in to our wonderful story.

It's a really pleasure doing something that whatever knowledge that we have that we can share, and give, and learn from each other.

- I'm feeling both spiritually and culinary fulfilled.

My chakras are aligned, and I've got a whole kitchen's worth of groceries to unpack when I get home.

But to get a truly holistic look at the Indian experience in New Jersey, you have to go to Edison.

A whopping 40% of this city is Indian.

I arrived just as Holi, the celebration of spring, was ending.

So Mr. Perik, my Sage, my guide, my wise man, had to add a little more color to my experience.

- So the holy starts with the color.

It's a love and affection from Indian celebration of holy.

- For someone who doesn't know about the Indian culture, how would you describe it to them?

- We believe in peace and harmony.

So one common nature of any Indians, if you meet them, they will ask you everything about you.

[chuckles] There is no email, there is no larger booklet, you can call from the phone book, but just meeting mouth to mouth, word of mouth.

- That's why Edison is so good, we celebrate all the cultures, and it basically makes the big bond among all the people from different states.

- For us, bonding is the key of bringing our culture alive.

- Seeing this gathering of over 600 Indians, celebrating their culture, is something to behold, the 1965 immigration and nationality act made this possible, for Indians to bring their families, their culture and their food with them.

Even if you don't know about India, you know about the food.

And who better to give me all the insight secrets than twins, Anika and Aditi, yes, another Aditi, Varun's sister, at the family own, Akbar Restaurant.

Their grandfather started it all, when he opened an Indian food stall at the 1965 World's fair.

That all led to Akbar, the first Indian banquet hall in New Jersey.

The extended family owns restaurants all around the area, and in India too, but wait, there's more.

Adit is a chocolate tier, and Anika is in restaurant management and hospitality.

Food is in their bones.

See, what did I tell you?

A cooking dynasty.

They grew up immersed in the restaurant, where two of everything sounds like the perfect place to start.

What is it about the food that is so, I guess, mesmerizing to everyone?

- I think it starts with the spices.

If you had smell a vision on your, you know, TV screen right now, you would be able to like smell all the spices emanating from the kitchen.

We really try to keep things as authentic as possible, but in a more modern way of presentation.

- If I was like a third grader, describe what, what the flavors are like, like describe the food to me.

- It's very complex.

So, there are a lot of different flavor profiles that come together to create a dish that appears to have been created very simply.

So, the base of each Indian dish is tomatoes, onions, ginger garlic, haldi, which is turmeric, cumin, seeds.

There are a lot of curry leaves that are more traditionally used in south Indian cooking.

And then you get to some of the more complicated spices, like you get to cloves, and you get to cinnamon, and the ones that have more complex flavors.

Our dad calls these sauces, the mother sauces, let them stew for a very long time and you'll get, you know, a good outcome.

In Indian cuisine, especially at our restaurant, you know, our chefs have been with us for maybe 20, 30 years.

Each one of them definitely has their own fingerprint on each of the dishes at the restaurant, the dishes vary, but the soul is still there.

- Do you think being here in Edison, is kind of, I guess, is helping you guys, 'cause it's like you guys have a built in community, right here in Edison, New Jersey?

- Absolutely, it's a beautiful thing to have a space for everyone, where everyone can go and learn about Indian cuisine and get to experience the culture.

- Tell me about the Indian wedding, which that's literally on my bucket list, to go to one.

- Maybe Varun will get married soon and then we can all attend another Indian wedding.

- No pressure.

- No pressure.

That's what's beautiful about coming to Akbar, most weekdays, we have some sort of Indian celebration going on.

We each had traditional Indian wedding ceremonies, but it's really about the food, the dancing, the colors, the energy that's in the room.

Oh, I just hear the wedding procession.

- Oh, really?

Should we crash?

- Yeah.

- How are you passing on these traditions to your kids?

- My kids, they're both three and a half, boy and a girl, they're twins and they're at this age where we can start talking to them and we have started to talk to them about our culture.

Also just speaking to them in Hindi, making sure they know a couple of words here and there so that they can communicate with themselves or each other or their great grandparents - And bringing them here.

- Yeah.

- Because this is where we actually learned the most about our culture.

There are celebrations like Holi, for instance, that are appealing to everybody, because no one gets left behind in the color.

- Well, I'm excited to try it, I'm really excited.

- This is called Dhebra.

- Dhebra.

- Dhebra.

- This is delicious, this is kind of like, what I used to eat as a kid for breakfast.

It's called akara.

- Oh wow.

- And it's so good, just like this.

- We should try that.

- You have to have us over.

- I will have you all.

- Yes, that sounds great.

- This is delicious.

So, what the next one?

- And then we'll have the stuffed capsicums, a bell pepper, Indian spice, like human coriander, and ginger, garlic, garam masala.

- A lot of the Indian food that we cook, especially, you know, the spices, the herbs, they have a lot of medicinal properties.

Even the capsicum have anti-inflammatory properties.

So growing up, we heard it from all of our aunts, "you should take this, if you're feeling sick, eat just the capsicum raw, stick some ginger under your tummy".

- Oh, I used to do it all the time.

- "And all your worries go away".

- In traditional Indian cooking, is it more vegetarian?

Is it meat rich, or is it kind of a combination of both?

- We actually did not eat much meat growing up.

A lot of the dishes that are prepared in Indian homes and even the basis for a lot of the food that's cooked at Indian restaurants, it's all from foods that are cultivated from the earth.

- Now that's traditional Indian cooking.

Without them, without this building, who would've hosted the tens of thousands of Indian weddings for our proud Indian neighbors?

This place is the foundation of the community in Edison.

The samplings at Akbar are divine, but I have to be honest, after an all day food tour, and another tasting menu, I'm ready for dessert.

- This is called Malpua.

- Well, this is semolime.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Right, it's amazing.

- In the Indian culture, is the dessert heavy?

- Oh yeah, we have a lot of desserts.

- Any special occasion in India calls for decadent desserts.

Now I'm a pretty well-versed baker, but I know nothing, nada, about the Indian dessert.

Luckily, I have an Inn at the Rajbhog cafe, back to little India we go.

- Hi, how are you?

- Hi.

- So what were your favorite desserts growing up?

- One of my favorites is Jalebi.

- Jalebi essentially is a batter that's fried in oil, and then it's created into that shape, and then there's honey, and sugar on it.

It is phenomenal.

One of my favorites was Gulab Jamun.

It's right down here.

- And what is that?

- That's essentially a batter put into a roll in a bowl and again, same, honey.

- Can we have some Gulab Jamun, and some Jalebi?

- Thank you.

- That looks good.

- Yes, it is phenomenal.

- Hmm.

- Yeah.

- You know what this reminds me of?

A cold munchkin.

- Yes.

- Interesting.

- Dipped in honey, that makes a lot of sense.

- All right, it's time for us to have some Jalebi tasting.

- That's Jalebi, wow.

- Oh no, I can't.

- Do I split one?

- No, I'll have one.

That's a try, I'm still on a diet.

- You cannot be on a diet.

- You cannot be in a diet when you're walking around little India.

- Mm.

- This is really good.

- That's why I kept the whole thing for myself.

- You gotta do get like, a tiny hint of the chickpea in there, that little something.

Wow.

- And them are very famous for barfi, as you see there.

- This is actually my favorite one.

This has been my favorite part of the whole tour.

- You save it guys, but I'd love to have a box of Jalebis lying around.

- Just in case.

- Just in case.

- For emergencies.

- Exactly.

- Yeah, I hear that.

- What's your hope for the Indian culture?

Where do you wanna see it go and grow in the next generation?

- Well, what's actually pretty exciting is Jersey city just past a referendum to revitalize this area.

- Really?

- So they're putting a lot of money into making sure the roads are fixed, they're putting in archways, and this entire neighborhood is gonna look a little different in a few years, once they start that work.

And I think it would be really exciting that more people are gonna come visit, and eat at all these restaurants, and get exposed to the culture, the food, and I would just love to see that continue.

- And I really want this to hit everyone.

You know, it shouldn't just be Indians walking down the road, I just hope to see more culture coming around.

- It's impossible to explain the beautiful deliciousness of Indian sweets.

These desserts are nothing like anything I've eaten or made.

And I'm thoroughly at a loss for words to describe these distinctive flavors.

There's only one way to express how I feel.

I'll let my footwork do the talking for me.

I'm ready for my close up.

Mr. Sawhill.

[Indian music playing] [clapping sounds]