Is the Masala Dosa India’s Most Iconic Dish?

We love a good dosa. The popular buttery and crisp South Indian equivalent of a crepe is part of our culinary legacy and certainly deserves to be on lists featuring India’s best foods. Given America’s seeming obsession (see here and here) with the dish, we weren’t surprised to find the masala dosa included in a compilation of 10 Foods Around the World To Try Before You Die, as listed by travel blog Viator and republished on American news website The Huffington Post.

What did raise our eyebrows a tad was how our local media, ever eager for some sort of Western endorsement of all things India, packaged the news item in this morning’s papers. The Times of India, for instance, re-ordered the randomly assembled list (which originally started off with Peking duck and ended with American BBQ ribs), into a Top 10 chart, with of course, the masala dosa ranked right on top. Personally, we can think of several other desi dishes, including butter chicken, bhapa ilish or even a plate of lip-smacking aloo chaat, that could contend with the dosa as the country’s “must-try for travellers”. What do you think? Tell us in the comments section.

Update: In the original post published on Viator, the dishes were listed in no particular order with the Peking duck first, the masala dosa, fourth, and the American BBQ ribs last. The Huffington Post introduced the rankings when they republished the story, and not The Times of India as we indicated, above. We apologise for the error.