Come summers and you have an innate urge to visit the hawkers on the street for a spicy and tangy raw mango mix or cut star fruit mix, isn’t it? Every time one hears the bell in school and it’s time for dispersal, these street food vendors magically make their way with a bunch of seasonal fruits and a lot of spices on the tray, enough to bait the children and their parents alike. And if you aren’t allowed outside food, then the numerous evenings you have spent at home with sliced guavas and chilli-salt make up for what you are missing on the streets. This street food has always been around in the society, but do you know it now has a new name- Fricy? Here’s decoding what’s new and what’s remains of the old habit.
The name Fricy is a combination of Fruit and Spicy. It basically comes from the concept of eating spiced fruits. While fruits are generally sweet or slightly tangy, in the case of raw ones, it becomes spicy when you add chaat masala, rock salt, chilli powder, sea salt, Kashmiri chilli powder, jeera and other secret spices which are always up the vendor’s sleeve.
More often than not, you would find hawkers selling seasonal fruits, especially from afternoon to evening. In fact, they wash and cut the fresh fruit in front of you, add the spices according to your taste give it a good mix and plate it up or place them in a traditional thonga (small paper pockets) and hand them over to you, all for a meager price starting at Rs 40/50. For years, this has been one of the most sought after evening snack or even lunch, especially among the babus of office para in Calcutta.
But wait, with innovation in the culinary world, the fricy trend is not just limited to this childhood nostalgia or street food practice. It has now evolved to the dining tables and bars of hotels and luxury restaurants. Drinks like spicy guava or mango chilli shake, draw from the same concept and present the same taste only to be drunk from a glass instead of popping them straight into your mouth. For those who love spicy food can go on to experiment with the flavours at home by making a spicy fruit chaat, smoothie or deconstructed fruit-cuts. In fact, digestives like spiced dried fruit slices are equally loved by all.
Hence, it is interesting to see how this age-old practice evolved with time to have new forms and names, becoming one of the most popular trends; needing only your favourite fruit and a pinch of spice; to make something nice.
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