The best lunch is eaten standing up
A warm roll, a spiced potato fritter, a green chilli and a square of paper napkin. In praise of food that asks nothing of you.
It arrives on a square of paper napkin: a soft roll, a spiced potato fritter pressed inside it, a smear of green chutney and one fried green chilli for anyone brave enough. It costs less than the bus fare and takes about four minutes to eat.
There is no table, no menu to read and no decision beyond how many. You stand a step back from the stall, out of the way of the next person, and eat it while it is still too hot.
Nothing to manage
Most of my meals come with small jobs attached: choosing, waiting, paying, clearing up. This one has none. The napkin is the plate and then the napkin again, and the whole thing is over before it has a chance to become an occasion.
The best lunches are the ones you forget to photograph.
I did photograph this one, once, to remember the shape of it. The chilli, for the record, was not optional.