The deli comes to Delhi

One of the capital's best-known food entrepreneurs is now turning delicatessen-er.

Back in the eighties, when terms like "delicatessen" didn't exactly roll off the tongues of pre-liberalisation Indians, there was a joke about an Indian student in an American classroom unable to understand why his classmates kept saying "Wow, you live in a deli", when he said he was from Delhi.

My husband, who was a solitary Indian student in an eighties American classroom, insists this was no joke "" that classmates actually thought Delhi was a deli; but these were the same kids who believed that any Indian they came across was a prince with an elephant (not a Maruti 800) as his private mode of transport back home.

But let us not stereotype American public school education any more. The point is that if the average Joe in the US is now ready for Delhi (hopefully), in Delhi we are gearing up for our own, indigenous, first-of-its-kind deli!

Next month, Sudha Kukreja, one of the capital's most successful restaurateurs, will add a full-fledged deli to her kitty of restaurants across the city.

The new venture, Ploof Deli, to come up in the Lodhi Colony main market and "born of a need in the city", will be pitched several price points lower than the Oberoi Charcuterie and several notches above, in terms of the product range, local stores and "bakery shops" that cater to the market for cold cuts, breads and the like.

While sandwiches are closely associated with American delis, and are going to be quite the mainstay even here, Kukreja's deli is truly within character because it does not ignore the "store" aspect of the concept.

"Increasingly, we are becoming more American in the way we live," she points to the growing tribe of double income (with or without kids) families where nothing is more convenient than a meal fixed quickly, healthy, but not "fast" food.

Apart from top quality cold cuts "" initially to be imported but later to be sourced from an Indian company ready to start its operations in a couple of months "" and the likes of cheese and chili sausages (yes, that is for the Indian palate), black pepper and parma ham ("no, please don't mention that or people will think that we're selling Rs 4,000 a kilo stuff!" Kukreja says) there will be enough options to pick up including home-made pesto and Thai curry pastes (remember, this is the lady who runs the fabulous Chilli Sseason), 7-8 varieties of mushrooms, chilli sauce ("without the hundreds of preservatives they use commercially") not to mention "high-end" chocolates, cakes, "organic muffins" and the like.

Special attention is being also paid to an organic and "health" section with organic (certified) atta and dal also slated to being on the shelves besides your usual multi-grain breads, sugar-free and eggless concoctions also on the menus of other stores and "health cafes". "In India, we do not have organic poultry or organic veggies so I can't have these," Kukreja regrets.

She is unmoved by arguments that health menus don't really work in India. "Perhaps not in isolation," she agrees, "but look at all the neighbourhood stores, all of them have diet namkeens," she points out.

If all this sounds a lot to you, there's more "" this is one ambitious deli, after all. Kukreja also promises "interactive sessions" with experts, chefs and nutritionists in the garden in front of the deli. We'll be waiting.