Street Food Vending: Food Culture in India

By:

Prof. Anjali Kurane Shilpa Dahake

Department of Anthropology, University of Pune

(This is a draft and not to be cited without permission)

Growing Cities

Population Increase

Informal Food Sector

Street Food Vending

Formal economy

•Economic Growth •Social Development

Informal economy

Foundation to Leads to

Dealt with efficient management

Visible part

Street Food Vending

• “The informal food sector can be defined as including small producers, manufacturing enterprises, traders and service providers, involved in legal as well as unrecognized activities related to food” (Simon, 2007).

Informal Food Sector

Informal Sector

Ease of entry

Use of Indigenous resources

Family/household ownership

Small-scale operatives

Unregulated & competitive

markets

Traditional technology

• The street food is “ready to eat food and beverages prepared or sold by vendors or hawkers especially in streets and similar public places” as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Street Food

• “Street food vendors are person who offers food items for sale to the public without having a permanent built up structure but with a temporary static structure or mobile stall (or head load). Street vendors may be stationary by occupying space on pavements or other public/ private areas, or may be mobile in the sense that they move from place to place carrying their wares on push carts or in cycles or baskets on their heads or may sell their products in moving trains, bus, etc.”

Street Food Vendors

• This study tries to understand street food vending endeavor in the cultural tapestry of Indian cities.

– To understand the relation between the migration pattern of vendors and the items they are selling

– To understand uniqueness and diversity of food products they sell

– To understand the street food vending business

Aim & Objectives

Shivajinagar

Deccan Gymkhana Camp Area

N

Map of Pune

Locale of Study

Site

Deccan Shivaji Nagar Camp

• Sampling

– Population: Street food vendors carrying out business from a specific location regularly are the population under the study.

– Identification of busy nodes of the locations selected

– Street food vendors at these nodes were selected on the basis of purposive sampling technique.

– Each location 20 samples irrespective of their age and gender, total sample size: 60

• Interview schedule, observation and documentation through photographs in the study area.

Methodology

Observation & Findings

Street Food Vending in Pune

Pune Urban Center

since 18th century After 1950s growth of modern

manufacturing sector

Steady Growth in Population

Attracts Migrants

Spread of City

Distance between Home and Workplace Increased

Development of Street Food Vending

Gradual Increase

Increase in Range of Food Items Sold

Change in clientele range from Poor to Better -off

Street Food

Prepared Food (30%)

Idli-sambar, Sambar-wada, Sabudana

khicadi, Poha, Upama, Sheera,

Pani-puri, Sev-puri, Bhel puri, Bhel, Kulfi,

Peanuts

Prepared on street (36.7%)

Aloo bhaji, Wada pav, Anda burji, Dhabeli,

Dosa/uttapa, Sabudana wada, Loni dosa, Loni dhapata, Paratha, Pav-bhaji, Pulav, Sandwich,

Pizza, Boiled corn

Beverages (21.7%)

Lime soda, Kokam, Fruit

juice, Tea

Readymade (6.7%)

Chocolate sandwich, Gola,

Cigarette

Fruit salad (5%)

Street Food

• Item selection majorly depends on:

– Investment (30.7%)

– Demand (38.4%)

• Only 5% of vendors change the item that they sell according to season

• Assimilation: Rajasthan - bhel puri

• Adaptation: Karnataka - poha, wada pav

family business

minimum investment

more demand

easy to prepare

Will

Street Food

Item Selection

38.4%

30.7 %

Migration Pattern

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Pu

ne

Wit

hin

Mah

aras

htr

a

Kar

nat

ake

Raj

asth

an

Utt

ar P

rad

esh

We

st B

en

gal

An

dhra

Pra

desh

Gu

jara

t

Mad

hya

Pra

de

sh

Profile of Vendors

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Age Category Gender Education Religion Migrants

21-

30

31-

40

Ma

le

Prim

ary

Seco

nd

ary

Illit

erat

e

Hin

du

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

<5 yrs 6-10 yrs 11-15

yrs

16-20 21-25 >35

Independent

Dependent

• Majority of vendors are doing vending for less than 10 years

• “एक ठेले के पिछे ७-८ लोगो कक मेहनत

होती है”

• For 12% of vendors, vending was there family business and the 2nd generation of the family continued it.

Duration in Vending

Duration in Vending

Job Before Vending

• Two major reasons:

– Left their previous job because it was low paid

– Could not find job to earn livelihood

• “और कुछ करना नही आता”

• “िढाई मे मन नही लगा तो िैसे कमाने के ललये ये करने लगा”

• 15% of the vendors had previous experience in the field of food preparation and catering before they embarked on the business of their own

Reasons for Starting Food Vending

Reasons

45 %

34 %

15 %

Street Food Vendors

Independent (65%)

Family (41%)

Individual (48%)

Employer (11%)

Dependent (35%)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Less than20 years

21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60

Independent

Dependent

Nature of Street Food Vending

Nature of Vending & Age Category

Site

• 76.7% vendors obtained site because it was empty

• Type of vending stall: – Pushcart: 63.3%

– Table: 28.3%

– Cycle: 5%

– Shack: 3.3%

• Why these locations? – Shivaji nagar: Close to transport centers, government offices, school

– Deccan: close to colleges, market

– Camp: close to mall, market, court

Vending

< 5 hrs 5-10 hrs 10-15 hrs

• Period

– Majority have working hours more than 8-10 hrs.

• Customers

– Deccan: students, office going, people

who come for shopping

– Shivaji nagar: passengers, bus drivers and conductors, government officials, nearby shopkeepers

– Camp: housewives who come for shopping, students, nearby shopkeepers

Vending

Working Hours

65%

26.7%

• Food safety is maintained by –

– Buying good quality raw materials

– Preparing items freshly & serving hot

– Items made at home

– Refrigeration

• “अगर अच्छी quality का item नही होगा तो customer कैसे आयेगे”

Good quality raw materials

freshly prepared & served hot

home made

refrigeration

with gloves

nothing

Food Safety

Training

13.3%

53.3%

20%

• 83.3% of street food vendors have street food vending as an only source of livelihood

• For independent vendors – Rs 5000- Rs 20000

• For dependent vendors – Rs 5000 – Rs. 10000

• Daily sale - Rs 500 – Rs 3500

• Investment in stock depends on item - Rs 500 – Rs 1500

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14<

50

00

50

01

-80

00

8001

-11

000

1100

1-1

4000

1400

1-1

7000

1700

1-2

0000

Independent Dependent

0

5

10

15

20

25

<500

501-

100

0

1001

-15

00

1501

-20

00

2001

-25

00

2501

-30

00

3001

-35

00

Income

Income

Daily Sale

• No formal training

• Majorly learnt to cook from family members or owner

FamilyFriends taughtnoObserving other vendorsOther vendorsOwner taughtPast experiencePeople from the same village taught

Training

Training

23%

21%

Characteristics of Street Food Vending

Vendors

Migrants

Encroachers

Harsh working conditions

Exploited by officials

No awareness about food safety standards

No awareness about rules & regulations

Vending

Offers Autonomy

Small Enterprise

Reasonable income

Day-to-day activity

Serves wide clientele range

Dynamic role in urban economy

Natural Market

• Article 19(1)g of Constitution guarantees to all the citizens the right to practice any trade and profession, subjected to certain “reasonable restrictions” for the general interests of the public.

• National Policy on Urban Street Vendors, 2009

• The Street Vendors (Livelihood Protection and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2013

Rules & Regulations

• Permit from – Encroachment (Prevention) Department and Health Department

• 1992 – PMC stopped issuing license

• 2011 – FDA took over registration and license works - Food Safety and Standards Act

• 2013 – Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) declared no-hawking zones on 45 roads and 153 junctions in the city.

• Under The Street Vendors (Livelihood Protection and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2013 - PMC has started survey in Deccan

Rules & Regulations

• Majority do not have license and very few have applied for license

• Vendors want current vending site to be allocated to them

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

<5 5-10 years 10-15 years 15-20 years 20-25 years 25-30 years >35

Yes No Owner has Applied

Yes Don't Know

License

Want License

82%

• The Street Vendors (Protection and Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill

• Local Municipal laws

Yes No

Yes No

Awareness about Rules

93.3%

95%

Street Vendor Bill

Local Municipal Laws

Conclusion

• Study shows that 80% of the food vendors are migrants from all over India.

• These migrant food vendors they introduce their native food culture (assimilation), while some other adopt the local food culture (adaptation).

• These processes shows the uniqueness and diversity of food culture of the city.

• Street food vending is a small –scale informal business which offers autonomy to vendors.

• Appreciated by wide clientele range from urban poor to upper class

• Street food vending is adopted by vendors as a coping strategy when denied access to more formal employment opportunities in order to seek livelihood.

• Thus street food has become a part of popular culture of Pune city

Thank You