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DESTINASIAN.COM – AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2019
“You get the best spices in India here,” Reshii ex-
plains as we move to another shop, and then anoth-
er. From home cooks like Reshii to celebrated chefs
like Dum Pukht’s Ghulam Qureshi, people come to
this warren of alleys and courtyards for the quality,
variety, and prices available.
“This way,” she beckons, leading me through an
unassuming tunneled arch. Squeezing past sack-
laden porters, groaning handcarts, and merchants
with leather briefcases, we are hit by a wall of spice
dust. Coughing, throat clearing, and sneezing echo
around us. We have just left the retail part of the
market and entered its wholesale heart.INDIA PRODUCED a staggering 8.5 billion kilograms of
spices last year, and imported enormous quantities
more from around the globe.
The wholesale trade today is centered on Gadodia
Market, a large complex built in the 1920s. Centered
on a vast courtyard, it’s a mix of commerce, storage,
and residences, with apartments along the top two
of the market’s four floors. The style is a fusion ofcolonial and Indian architecture, with repeating
four-petaled floral patterns, ornate carved brackets
supporting overhanging eaves, and lovely raised
canopies at the corners of the flat roof.
Over the years, the courtyard has been nearly
filled in with buildings, leaving a crowded, square-
shaped path running around it. Lining it are more
narrow shops, often with little more than a desk, a
few chairs, and some samples in the front. In the rear
of each is a godown (warehouse) stacked high with
bags of spices.
We step around burlap sacks bursting with bril-
liant ruddy-red chilies. The country harvested over
2.3 billion kilos of chilies last year. They dominate
the market as they do the Indian spice box.
“Chilies override every other spice,” Reshii says.
“They are literally in almost every dish.” She notes
a damning indictment of any cook: Namak mirchi
kam hai. “It means, ‘There’s not much salt or chilies
in this dish.’ ”
Among the most striking spices for sale are bright
yellow turmeric roots. The ground spice is not only
important to countless dishes, it also transcends the
kitchen and has many spiritual uses for Hindus—
Reshii motions toward a trader with a yellow mark
on his forehead. Another elemental spice is cumin,
which is found in everything from curries to the
popular crunchy snack chaat to being deep-fried and
sprinkled onto yogurt.
Next, we stop at a vendor who specializes in
coriander seeds. Asked which of the four types on
display is best, he scoops up a handful of yellowish-
green pods. “You can tell by the color,” he says, then
seeing my eager look, adds, “The minimum pur-
chase is forty kilograms.”
Chili, cumin, turmeric, and coriander are what
Reshii calls “the Big Four” of Indian spices, and they
are indeed plentiful in Godadia. But so is every other
conceivable spice, from a shop with seven differentDISPATCHES JOURNALAbove, from left:
Overlooking the central
courtyard at Gadodia
Market; a spice porter
on a break. Opposite,
from top: Spice expert
Marryam H. Reshii at her
home office; different
hued rock salts for
sale at Khari Baoli.
JEFF^ KOEHLER^(^3 );^COURTESY^OF^MARRYAM^ H.^ RE
SHII