
Vir Sanghvi
Why hide the papers? Why keep the conspiracy theories related to Netaji Subhas Bose’s death alive? And why deny India the truth about the death of one of its great freedom fighters?
Articles by Vir Sanghvi

Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: Sourdough saga
By Vir Sanghvi
UPDATED ON JAN 17, 2021 05:46 PM IST
The bread is now an Internet craze but it’s often not the real thing.

Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: Bae of Bengal
By Vir Sanghvi
PUBLISHED ON JAN 10, 2021 03:04 PM IST
From puchkas and rolls to biryani, Kolkata food is stealing the show

Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: Artisanal all the way
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON JAN 04, 2021 05:28 PM IST
Move over brick-and-mortar food halls, it’s time for online gourmet stores to take over

Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: Biryani to go!
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON DEC 27, 2020 08:19 AM IST
Stage two of the delivery boom: fine dining pulaos and the big boys finally enter the market

Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: Eat, drink and be merry
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON DEC 20, 2020 07:39 AM IST
From wine in cans to sourdough doughnuts, food entrepreneurs are leaving no ingredient and idea unturned

The Taste With Vir: To potato or not to potato with Biryani
By Vir Sanghvi | Delhi
UPDATED ON DEC 17, 2020 04:35 PM IST
In this week’s The Taste, Vir Sanghvi writes, “If you are unfamiliar with the biryani wars, then here’s some of the background. Biryani was invented in Delhi. (Don’t believe all that nonsense about it being a Persian dish. There is no rice dish called biryani in Iran.)”

Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: Egg on your face
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
PUBLISHED ON DEC 13, 2020 07:45 AM IST
Whether you choose caviar or coriander as your flavouring, an egg will never let you down!

Rude Travel by Vir Sanghvi: A celebration of love
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON DEC 06, 2020 08:02 AM IST
To really appreciate the beauty of the Taj, you have to watch it change colour as it shimmers in the sun

The Taste With Vir: Nothing beats the restaurant experience even after the delivery boom amid Covid-19
By Vir Sanghvi | Delhi
UPDATED ON DEC 01, 2020 03:04 PM IST
In this week’s The Taste, Vir Sanghvi writes, “Yes, the delivery boom has been one of the rare benefits of this otherwise terrible phase, leading to the growth of a new cloud kitchen sector and empowering thousands of housewives and artisanal producers all over India. But, as wonderful as all that is, there is nothing that beats the restaurant experience.”

Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: Meat the pickle
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON NOV 29, 2020 07:49 AM IST
India’s non-vegetarian pickle tradition is wondrous and delicious

Opinion | Coronavirus pandemic: India should give emergency approval for the Covid-19 vaccine
By Vir Sanghvi | Delhi
UPDATED ON NOV 27, 2020 04:32 PM IST
In this week’s The Taste, Vir Sanghvi writes, “I doubt if America will approve the Oxford vaccine any time soon. But we, in India, should give it emergency approval as soon as possible.” Adding, “Let’s just go ahead and beat this damn pandemic.”

Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: The boom continues!
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON NOV 22, 2020 08:34 AM IST
From burgers to biryani, cuisine is no bar when it comes to ordering food at home

The Taste with Vir: Renowned chef Cyrus Todiwala’s culinary journey, his restaurant Café Spice Namaste’s closing and possible revival amid coronavirus pandemic
By Vir Sanghvi | Delhi
UPDATED ON NOV 17, 2020 08:36 AM IST
In this week’s The Taste, Vir Sanghvi writes of the legacy of renowned chef, Cyrus Todiwala. From the chef’s early days at Taj Aquada in Goa to currently crowdfunding to reopen his well-known restaurant Café Spice Namaste in a new location, read on....

Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: Seekh and ye shall find
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON NOV 15, 2020 08:46 AM IST
Its history might be shrouded in mystery, but the humble seekh kebab takes the cake for its wonderful taste

The Taste with Vir: After year of death, darkness and disaster, things can only get better... one hopes
By Vir Sanghvi | Delhi
UPDATED ON NOV 13, 2020 06:04 PM IST
In this week’s The Taste, Vir Sanghvi admits that even though he’s not a New Year Column kind of guy, “This Diwali, as the world is overtaken by gloom and Delhi is submerged under smog,” he decided to give it a shot. From a coronavirus vaccine to reduction in hate, here are his hopes for the New Year.

Rude Travel by Vir Sanghvi: Driving is the new flying
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
PUBLISHED ON NOV 08, 2020 07:38 AM IST
The pandemic has forced us to look for holiday destinations nearer home. And they are great!

The Taste With Vir: India’s princely tradition works best as a fairytale
By Vir Sanghvi | Delhi
UPDATED ON NOV 04, 2020 06:28 PM IST
In this week’s The Taste, Vir Sanghvi writes, “The selling point of the Rambagh as a luxury hotel is that it gives you a glimpse of what life in princely India must have been like,” continuing, “In every sense that matters, the age of the maharajas is over. Even in the West, they are now seen as anachronisms from a bygone era (like Yugoslav royalty, perhaps) rather than serious glamour figures.”

Rude food by Vir Sanghvi: From their homes to yours
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON NOV 01, 2020 09:46 AM IST
Home cooks and artisanal food operations find success in the pandemic

The Taste with Vir: It’s stupid to say the terror attack in France was not motivated by religion
By Vir Sanghvi | Delhi
UPDATED ON OCT 29, 2020 08:36 PM IST
In this week’s The Taste, Vir Sanghvi writes about the religion of terror, “Gandhiji was assassinated by a Hindu. That does not make all Hindus evil. In the Middle East, more Muslims die every week at the hands of other Muslims than have died in France all of this year. We don’t deny that the murderers were fundamentalists --- or that they claimed to be acting in the name of their religion.”

Rude food by Vir Sanghvi: Mean Mr. Mustard
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON OCT 25, 2020 07:43 AM IST
Garlic is a favourite but there are other ingredients. Mustard, for instance!

The Taste with Vir: Borat, Giuliani and Trump’s idea of filth
By Vir Sanghvi | Delhi
UPDATED ON OCT 24, 2020 05:13 PM IST
In this week’s The Taste, Vir Sanghvi makes comparisons between the Borat film by Sacha Baron Cohen and the final Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, writing, “Like (Rud0) Giuliani in the Borat film, many of Trump’s Indian fans will be left adjusting their trousers. (Or at least, that’s what they will claim they were doing.)”

Rude food by Vir Sanghvi: Magic mushroom
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
PUBLISHED ON OCT 18, 2020 07:04 AM IST
Indigenous producers are making the finest, purely Indian, fresh ingredients available for home cooking

The Taste With Vir: The interfaith Tanishq ad can’t survive in the India we have created
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times, Delhi
UPDATED ON OCT 14, 2020 03:48 PM IST
Vir Sanghvi writes about the reactions to an interfaith Tanishq ad, “The film itself was so tastefully made that only a bigot would find it offensive. And indeed, the protests were not so much about the content of the film as about its central theme: a Muslim man married to a Hindu woman.”

Rude food by Vir Sanghvi: Fads vs diet facts
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON OCT 11, 2020 09:30 AM IST
The results of the first major scientific study into intermittent fasting are in: it does not work!

Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: Burger basics
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
PUBLISHED ON OCT 04, 2020 07:09 AM IST
This lockdown-favourite delivery dish can be made at home, and it doesn’t get soggy too!

The Taste with Vir: Elizabeth Kerkar’s contributions to Taj Hotels created new school of Indian interior design
By Vir Sanghvi | New Delhi
UPDATED ON SEP 28, 2020 03:31 PM IST
Vir Sanghvi writes, “Liz Kerkar took the American model and Indianised it so thoroughly that if a guest suddenly woke up in the middle of the night at a Taj hotel, he would never think he was at a Hilton or a Sheraton; he would know that he was with the Taj”

Rude food by Vir Sanghvi: Eating in
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
PUBLISHED ON SEP 27, 2020 07:52 AM IST
A bunch of smart restaurateurs bring the fine dining experience to your dining table at home

The Taste with Vir | Supreme Court vs Sudarshan TV: Free speech isn’t setting fire to a communally complex nation
By Vir Sanghvi | New Delhi
UPDATED ON SEP 24, 2020 05:33 PM IST
Vir Sanghvi writes, “The government has finally taken a stand. In what may be a disappointment to those of its supporters who were sympathetic to Sudarshan TV’s case, the government went to the Supreme Court on Wednesday and said what should have been obvious to anyone who is familiar with the law.”

Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: From the streets to our hearts
By Vir Sanghvi | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON SEP 25, 2020 03:47 PM IST
Whether it’s Gaggan or Indian Accent or Bhawan, it’s street food that truly inspires our chefs

The Taste with Vir: In times when hate sells, how will News TV regulation work?
By Vir Sanghvi | New Delhi
UPDATED ON SEP 24, 2020 03:21 PM IST
Vir Sanghvi writes, “The Supreme Court is right to want to ban hate speech but regulation has been tried and had failed before.”