Words About Things

Morning time technology has advanced to only a limited degree. You can get woken up. You can even get a cup of tea or have the radio turned on by machine. What you can’t get are robots that will nip down to the shop, get all the ingredients you lack in your cupboards, and knock you together a hot breakfast. Hopefully though that will soon change.

This video shows two experimental robots collaborating to ‘shop’ for and cook a breakfast. Eggs Benedict for me butler-droid!

One of the best things about traveling to new places is experiencing the cultural differences: new smells, new sounds and best of all new tastes. The moment you step out of the airport or train station you are bombarded by new and unknown sights and sounds. The ‘culture shock’ of being somewhere so different to what you have previously experienced can leave a lasting impression on you.

When I visited India I ate a lot of street food from the stalls which are all over cites like Delhi and Mumbai. It might seem risky to eat food from a stall on a busy, dusty street (after all a stall doesn’t need to maintain a reputation like a restaurant does) but street food is surprisingly safe. Most of the street food in India is cooked or reheated to order in very hot oil, any bacteria doesn’t stand a chance.

When I travel I eat as much local food as I can because it is a great way to get to know a new place. Even on my flight to Mumbai I was already tucking into a nice curry. Typically the best places to buy food are not the ‘tourist friendly’ restaurants but where the locals eat – the more obscure the better in my experience. There is no point eating westernized versions of exotic dishes, you can get that at your local take away! Although there are risks involved in trying local food in certain countries (lets not get graphic, you know what I’m talking about) it you are careful you should be okay.

Some popular Indian street foods include:

• Aaloo Tikki These are patties made up of mashed potatoes and masala deep fried in oil. They are served typically with a curry called Chholey (chick peas). They are popular in winter in North India. Chaap is a version of potato patties dipped in flour batter and deep fried. They are served along with onion and beet slices. They are referred to by this name in the Eastern part of the country. One can obtain chaap on local trains travelling to and from Kolkatta. The word “chaap” is probably a corruption of “chop”.

• Poori-Subzie(or Bhaajee) This is available mostly in North India, especially in Uttar Pradesh. The curry (subzie) consists usually of potatoes in gravy. Sometimes, especially in the southern part of the country the potatoes do not have gravy and the poories are exclusively made up of refined flour (maida).

• Chai-faen This term refers to tea with a roasted biscuit called “faen”, possibly a corruption of “fan” which the shape of the biscuit resembles. The biscuit is also called “khaaree biscuit” in other parts of the country. This is available in North India, especially in Uttar Pradesh in cities like Agra and Mathura.

• Vada pav is an example of West Indian street food. Masala chai,: a spiced tea, is also for sale. A syrup-covered deep-fried sweet is sold in the North as jalebi and the South as jangiri. It is generally cheap and available throughout India.

Whilst Italy, France and Spain are typical destinations for a foodie holiday I would thoroughly recommend taking your taste buds to India. Take a look at the video below to get an idea of the Indian street food experience.

A lot of time and effort is spent trying to work out how and why we buy in order to get us to part with as much money as possible. They layout in your local supermarket is clearly not haphazard and it’s no coincidence that the sweets and magazines are next to the till. Our decision making patterns are observed and tested so that we can be convinced not only to spend but to spend more often. Ideally (for those doing the selling) we will leave thinking that we have found a great deal or got more than our moneys worth but this isn’t necessarily the case.

We all know that something at eye level is more likely to sell than something that needs to be sought out. We also know that something priced at 99p is supposedly more likely to sell than something for £1. there are however some tricks of the trade which you may not know about:

• The second cheapest wine on the menu is often the bottle with the highest profit margin. This is because most of us want a bargain but don’t want to look cheap so we go for the second cheapest option. For similar reasons the cheapest wine on the menu probably tastes disgusting, what were you expecting cheapskate?

• By adding an extra expensive option to the menu restaurateurs are able to make a high priced option seem cheaper by comparison.

• If items are bundled together (for example a set meal) we find it difficult to work out if we are paying a fair price particularly if the items are not available separately.

• Different size portions are often sold for different prices. This means that those who are hungry will pay more and those who are trying to save money will get a smaller than normal portion. Whilst the customer feels like they are getting more of a choice they still aren’t getting more than their moneys worth.

• Coffee chains like Starbucks sell their drink in confusing sizes like Tall, Grande and Venti but never ‘small’. By taking away the relation between the names and their sizes they are aiming to make us feel like we aren’t getting a small portion or being greedy by having a ‘large’.

• The upper right corner of the menu is apparently where we all look first (eye tracking studies have proven this) so items placed here are given a lot of thought. Often an expensive and fancy option will be placed here, this makes everything else look cheaper and makes sure that this item is not missed.