You scroll, choose, and buy, and in half an hour, cooked food is on your table, and all this within the efforts of your fingertips. This is called the new normal, an example of the fast-paced world of modernity. The changing food habits of people resulted in the rise of restaurants in the Kashmir region. This has also resulted in the new business idea of food delivery, which was considered nonexistent in the valley before the pandemic.

There has been a copycat phenomenon where people, especially youth, have copied this trend of establishing restaurants from each other & created their own start-ups. These waves of restaurants and distribution or delivery of this fast food have resulted in saturation, competition, and an overall lack of diversification in the market. This trend, which was present in the developed world long ago, also has its own consequences for the fragile Himalayan Valley.

In the 1990s, India opened its doors to the Western world; with that, it brought its culture along. A culture of eating food while being on the move or away from home. The Kashmir region took a very long time to adopt this trend due to its political environment as well as its strong aversion to Western values, which are considered anti-Islamic. Even though modernity has brought this concept of restaurants, the traditional way of carrying lunch boxes to offices or schools hasn’t totally died down. Mostly, people from the older generation still carry their tiffin boxes to workplaces, containing homemade food instead of visiting restaurants.

This outside food, fast food, junk food, processed food, or whatever you may call it, is labeled as unhygienic by Gen X, including a small section of Gen Y. That doesn’t totally mean that they are not the consumers of this type of food, but they generally try to avoid it as much as possible. During their young ages, these types of food were missing from the market for widespread consumption, so they didn’t have the habit of eating out. The restaurant boom in the valley began gradually, with most restaurants focused only near touristy places such as Boulevard and Lal Chowk.

The major consumers of these above-mentioned foods are Gen Z, who were mostly brought up under the influence of Western culture through their consumption of mass media, especially social media & films. The population of Kashmir that is in their teens, 20s, and early 30s is the major consumer of restaurant services. As one can stroll down the alleys of Srinagar, one can find restaurants filled with these youngsters. This habit of eating out with colleagues or friends is more common among females folk than males.

This growing consumption of fast food has given rise to various kinds of restaurants in the region, both in urban and rural areas. The restaurants offer various types of cuisine, like Chinese, Indian, European, and so on. The growth of restaurants in the valley can be divided into two phases, i.e.,

  1. Pre-2019 era.
  2. Present Post-2019 Phase.

As the year of 2019 is remembered as the year when the region of Kashmir lost its autonomy, which was granted under Indian administration. As mentioned above, India opened its doors to the Western world during the early 1990s, but parallelly, Kashmir was witnessing the violent phase of its separatism. So, the environment for accepting the so-called liberal change was not possible. But during relative periods of desolation in the region, there was experimentation with new innovative ideas, including the opening of the new eateries. It was a gradual process right up to 2016, as very few people risked opening startups due to the valley’s fragile political environment. The years 2008, 2010, and 2016 witnessed months-long curfews, which resulted in an overall decline in market activities.

The sharp growth in the restaurant business began after 2016, when youngsters experimented with various ideas. Such as opening different varieties of restaurants based on distinct themes. The opening of the new eateries was inspired by various movies and TV shows. People tried to create the ambience of their favorite shows. This behavior of opening the restaurants based on any particular theme spread like wildfire.

People also started to introduce new dishes and popularize usual dishes. For example, Arabian shawarma was offered by very few restaurants, but after 2016, it became so popular that it was offered by every other restaurant in the region. Momos, which were first introduced by Tibetan immigrants, also became popular and usual fast food for the people. Consumption of pizza was also booming and much preferred by the young as well as the older generation.

Restaurants also became the meeting places for the teenagers for celebrations and other parties, which earlier used to happen in the privacy of homes. In addition to that, these new restaurants used to host various small events, which sometimes became a kind of daily routine in the city. These events featured political, social, and high-level intellectual discussions, which further gave rise to new ideas. Many start-up-style event companies used to organize events like music shows, discussions about social issues, or book launches. During this same period, there was also a rise in various NGOs in the valley, and they mainly opted for these restaurants as their usual venues.

On 05th August, 2019, when Jammu and Kashmir lost its autonomy and the whole valley was under lockdown, this boom of restaurants, outdoor social gatherings, and NGOs came to a standstill. This brief period between 2017 and early 2019, I would refer to as the roaring teens of Kashmir. The valley witnessed relative peace, though for a brief period.

With the situation of lockdown in motion, Kashmir witnessed another simultaneous lockdown due to COVID-19. This situation shattered the chance of a revival of the good old days, when people used to go out. As we know, the economy was bad during this period, but they still required food for their survival. The thought of buying food from the restaurants was out of the question. Though many restaurants advertised themselves by taking precautions while preparing the food, they usually avoided them due to the fear of catching the disease. So people started to prefer freshly cooked food for consumption and, occasionally, fully packed foods like potato chips or biscuits. To get these things, that meant people still had to go out to the market, which was considered a very anxious activity during the pandemic.

So the COVID pandemic introduced the idea of food delivery in the region. Soon, there was a mushrooming of food delivery startups and various businesses preferring their own private services. People usually buy vegetables and grocery items on these online platforms. As COVID-19 faded away from the minds of people and people started to come out, the restaurant business revived. But the functioning of food delivery didn’t die down like the pandemic did; it actually grew further. After lifting the lockdown, people could again enjoy their time out and also visit their favorite restaurants, but with the additional feature of online food delivery. In the cities, students, especially young girls away from their homes, are the usual users of these online platforms.

This new culture is still growing, and people are trying new things like food carts. The valley, which was usually considered isolated and out of trend, is not away to the effects of globalization. Kashmir is growing, but not at par with other regions. This new way of life, or we can say new normal or new way of dealing with the conflict, has helped Kashmiri people to remain resilient. As we have witnessed the tragedy of Pahalgam, which leaves us with this thought:

Even if regions develop and grow, the conflict always lurks behind us to shatter everything.