Bragging rights on best biryani belong to Hyderabad: Telangana's IT minister K T Rama Rao

The biryani is one of the most-loved dishes in Indian cuisine and is one of the most popular for food delivery. The dispute over the choice of the finest biryani in the country is an unending war.

A fresh battle broke out on Twitter with Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and Telangana’s IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) throwing their hats into the ring.

What began as one tweet terming Kolkata biryani with aloo (potato) as “the biggest scam after 2G” soon turned into a torrent of comparisons and derisions.

The debate then moves to Hyderabadi and Awadhi (Lucknow) biryanis. “I can eat Hyderabadi biryani once every two months. An Avadhi biryani once a month. A Calcutta biryani once a week. A Kerala biryani every day!” tweeted Vir Sanghvi, journalist and travel columnist.

While one Twitter user sought to correct the notion of Kerala biryani, CEO of Niti Ayog Amitabh Kant tweeted in declaration, “The best biryani in world is Thalassery fish biryani from Paris restaurant. It’s made using short-grained local rice with white aikora or kingfish also known as king mackerel in Thalassery (Kerala). Its awesome & beats all other biryanis by miles (sic).”

This statement made Telangana’s KTR respond with: “All bragging rights on best biryani in the world belong rightfully to Hyderabad Amitabh ji. Dare I say that the rest are only poor imitations. Even UNESCO recognized our gourmet culture recently & conferred the title of ‘creative city of gastronomy.”

The minister posted a UNESCO weblink mentioning Hyderabad as one among the 66 cities worldwide designated as Creative Cities.

The KTR tweet was retweeted about 690 times, got 4,300 likes and has grabbed attention.

Sabyasachi Ray Chaudhuri, noted food enthusiast, told DH: “Kolkata biryani with aloo is a descendant from Awadh. They are flavorful with rose water etc., additions, mild on spices whereas Hyderabadi is loaded with masalas. To compare them is comparing chalk and cheese. Each is good in its own way."

“Popularity-wise, however, it is Hyderabadi biryani that scores over the other biryanis,” said Chaudhuri, who is originally from Kolkata but has been settled in Hyderabad for over two decades now.

Swiggy’s StatEATistics 2019 show that the biryani is the most popular dish for the third year in row, with 95 biryanis ordered online every minute.

A video clip of famous chef Sanjeev Kapoor calling Hyderabad “the biryani capital of the world” was also posted by one Twitter user in support of the Nizami style.