An Unsung Regional Indian Cuisine Everyone Should Try | Spice Road

The ancestors are calling as actor Rupak Ginn (Royal Pains) heads to New Jersey to dine with actor/writer Sheetal Sheth (The World Unseen) at Mejwaani, a Maharashtrian restaurant, in honor of his mother's heritage. He then travels to his hometown of New York for a mom-cooked meal—and to ask his parents some pressing questions.


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#PBSShortDocs #IndianFood #SouthAsianCuisine #PBSFood #Maharashtra

Featuring
Mejwaani
Nishith Sheth
Supriya N. Sheth
Mejwaani artwork by Medha Atre-Kulkarni
Sheetal Sheth
Jahar Bhattacharya
Sunita Bhattacharya

Host / Producer
Rupak Ginn

Director / Producer
Sami Khan

Producer
Vicky Lee

Executive Producers
Sally Jo Fifer
Lois Vossen

Executive in Charge of Production
Royd Chung

Senior Manager, Short-Form Content
Pamela Torno

Supervising Producer
Susan Cohen

Consulting Producer
Clare Chambers

Editor
Jaron Henrie-McCrea

Director of Photography
Matthew Garland

Original Music
Alam Khan

Camera Operator
Nicholas Galante

Assistant Camera
Brandon Regina

Sound
Michael Gassert

Colorist
Jeffrey Sousa

Online Editor / Assistant Editor
Joshua Wilmott

Production Manager
Ryan Miller

Archival Producer
Adrián Gutiérrez

Archival Researcher
Manuel Martínez

Editorial Consultant
Hena Ashraf

Archival Footage and Images
Carl Sylvester
Periscope Film
BlackBoxGuild / POND5
subrato / POND5
Aerogram / POND5
Giles_ / POND5
GreenTravelStory / POND5
Kanha Krishna
Suresh Takkella
Barefoot Books

Special Thanks
Yew Lee

Independent Lens Short-Form Funding Provided By:
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Acton Family Giving
Ford Foundation
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Wyncote Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts

SPICE ROAD is a co-production of MIRAFILMS, LLC and ITVS, with funding provided by the CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (CPB)

This program was produced by MiraFilms, LLC which is solely responsible for its content.

© 2023 MIRAFILMS LLC. All Rights Reserved.

[rupakginn]

So fun diving into my mother’s native cuisine - both at a fantastic restaurant and at home! Glad to feature the iconic mishti (sweet) of my dad’s people too. 😋

[SamiKhan-bwej]

Mejwaani has quickly become one of my favorite Indian restaurants in the United States. Especially proud of this episode. Supriya, Nish, Sheetal, and Rupak's parents were so generous and vulnerable. And Rupak, our camera team, editor, and crew absolutely killed it. We couldn't capture it on camera but Mejwaani's Pomfret is spectacular and took me back to nights spent in Juhu Beach in Mumbai. Everyone needs to go to Mejwaani to try it for themselves!

[sayimjustadreamer]

Your mother is a beautiful woman with a beautiful soul. Thank you for sharing her with us.

[TheNinnyfee]

I would love a cookbook from your mom, she has such wonderful energy and expertise. ❤❤❤

We really have to bow to so many of our mothers who made us survive, fed us, and were just taken for granted and complained to by the rest of the family. 😢 While communities wouldn't have survived without them. They deserve so much praise and love for what they did. ❤❤❤

[ameynathe]

I am Maharashtrian from Pune, it felt soo good to see this :)

[cooklikeanaunty]

This is my favorite episode of the series! Thanks for talking about the diversity of Indian food! It's especially interesting hearing from Rupak's parents from the opposite coasts of India.

[striker]

Camera angles, the stories, the people, the narrative, the food all coming together.

[royallytamara]

I truly enjoy this series! Being a Southeastasian, it's amazing to know about other cuisine that is tad bit different with my culture.

[catanduva]

What an utterly fantastic host, and great storytelling.

[AnandDharan-tfjo]

I love this series! Also love seeing the influences of different regions of India on one another. I’m US-born of Tamil origin, but some of my family lives in Bangalore, so I developed a taste as a kid for puran poli, which we called Obbattu. And of course “modak” is related to Kozhukkattai, which I strongly associate with Vinayaka Chaturthi and Sankata Hara Chaturthi.

[TPark-rflt]

OMG SHEETAL!!! 😍😍😍 Shes one of my favorite actors!!!! awesome episode!

[samrose]

What a beautiful and educational episode! Hope I can visit this restaurant and try one day!

[cinevasi]

Reminds me of the Martin Scorsese documentary Italianamerican

[amoghavarshanripatunga]

8:25 Honestly though, why was this part needed?
What did it contribute to a video about Indian/Maharashtrian food?

Does the PBS show videos of oppression of women and terrorists training when making a video about Middle Eastern cuisine? 🤔
I'm really curious

[parker]

Lovely food and great company!

Few questions as a maharashtrian I am curious whether you have tried learning Marathi as your mother tongue versus the common speak in the US? Did you face any challenges as a billingual?

[briansmith]

New to this channel and I absolutely love this dude!!!!

[lucycooper]

I wonder if I can find this food in the UK? Must be something on the curry mile...

[whaddoiknow]

The Modak and the sweet parantha-like thing seem OK enough. But Maharashtra has also given the world pav bhaji, which has to be one of the world's greatest inventions. Just the pav alone -- how do get it to taste like puffed cardboard?

[TheLadyE]

As someone born and raised in Edison I am curious when the town was “down on its luck”? That is 100% a false narrative. Also, showing images of police insinuates that Edison previously had an issue with crime. I understand you want to celebrate the contributions of Southeast Asians to Edison Township and that is wonderful but I wouldn’t start with false information to build a more exciting story.

[incubuskr]

Don't mix food and politics, if you do please present it the right context.

Narrative: "Minority (read: Muslim) neighbourhoods targeted for demolition". Like one day a man woke up and thought of demolishing MUSLIM houses.

Reality: Riots happennd, a minister chooses to punish rioters (who burn down public property, burn shops and loot them which the govt has to compensate).
He checks all the 'illegal' constructed houses only of the rioters, that were looked over since several years, and then destroyed illegal constructions. WHICH INCLUDED HINDU HOUSES AND SHOP.

Is it right to demolish homes of rioters? NO, because a family can't be punished for the the act of one or two persons.
Is it right to demolish illegal constructions, that have been sent many notices in the past several years?

So what have we learnt AS COMPARED TO WHAT WAS SAID.:
1: BOTH HINDU AND MUSLIMS HOUSES HAVE BEEN BULLDOSED (NOT JUST "MINORITIES")
2: THE HOUSES THAT WERE DEMOLISHED WERE ILLEGAL CONSTRUCTIONS, THERE WERE WARNED BY THE JUDICIARY THROUGH LEGAL NOTICES.
3: THE DRASTIC ACTION HAS MADE THE STATE FAR SAFER FOR PEOPLE THAT IT EVER WAS.
NOT SAYING ITS 100% SAFE BUT FAR SAFER THAT BEFORE BECAUSE NOW THERE IS A COST TO VIOLENCE.

You might agree or disagree with the actions, but now you have the whole picture to make your own judgement.