Owners of eateries by the road say many customers understand the situation

Rajan, an autorickshaw driver, a regular at a busy roadside eatery in Jangpura, asked the owner: “Bhai, aaj pyaaz khilaoge ya mooli? [brother, what will we feed us today? Onions or radish]” The owner replied: “Pyaaz wala thali toh sirf VIP ke liye hai [onions are only for VIPs]”.

The customers now ask for extra pickled carrots and chilies to compensate for the missing onions. Across roadside eateries, shredded radish is being served to compensate for onions because of the rising cost of the staple garnish.

The customers, however, are cooperative, said owners of these roadside eateries.

Biru Sing who has been selling chole bhature and kulche for over 30 years in Connaught Place said he does not serve the dish with onions anymore.

“I served onions till the rate was ₹60 per kg. I have stopped now as I will not make any profit. This had happened in 2017 also,” he said, adding that when customers ask for onions, he said: “I don't buy onions for my house, how will I get it here.”

At ITO, asking for onions with your meal comes with a free lesson in economics. “I have stopped serving onions to my customers and conveyed the reason to them. I serve one plate chola bhature for ₹25 and if I serve onions worth of ₹100/kg to a customer then what profit will I make,” said Ramesh Singh.

He added that most of the customers understand the situation but he does have a bowl of onions tucked in behind the larger vessels to offer customers if they really insist.

Supreme Court canteen

However, there are not many takers to radish. A lawyer said the Supreme Court canteen, which used to serve a good amount of onions with most of the food items in their menu, has stopped it.

“Yesterday, I ordered aloo gobi and roti. The dish usually comes with onion pieces but they were missing. Instead, they were replaced by shredded radish which I didn’t even touch,” the lawyer said.

Even in Zakir Nagar, a group of foodies who had gone for a food walk to the area said a famous galauti kebab shop that used to give an unlimited supply of pickled onions was serving chopped cabbage along instead.

In Delhi University, a vendor selling bhel puri outside the Arts Faculty said he had not cut down on onions in his bhel puri and was tiding over the tough time.