Shortage of lentils drives up prices of Indian staple diet

Washington, Aug 5: Shortage of lentils, commonly known as dals, has created a near crisis situation in the two million Indian American families living in the United States.

One of the most indispensable ingredients in Asian-Indian meals is suddenly so tough to find that stores are rationing sales, leaving thousands of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) hungry for dosas, idli, sambar, vadai and other lentil-based Indian dishes.

Most of the Indian grocery stores, especially in the predominantly Indian American localities, from California to Chicago, to New York-New Jersey to Virginia and Texas, have no stocks of dals or if they do, their prices have jumped sky-high.

Late rains and too much rain in parts of India devastated crops last winter, resulting in shortage of supplies. When India banned all exports of dal in June to conserve what little supply there was for its own domestic consumption, the real trouble began for Asian-Indian communities around the world.

Around the world, Asian-Indian communities outside of India are being rocked by India's recent ban on exports of dried split peas and lentils, known as dal.

Rumours of hoarding by desperate housewives are rampant. And Indo-Americans returning to their homeland for summer vacations vow to bring back suitcases full of the dried beans to stock up.

So much so some Indian grocery owners have placed restrictions on the amount one can buy, one packet per family or per household, and restaurants have hiked up prices for certain lentil dishes or been forced to yank them from the menu because they can't get enough dal to make them.

What bread is to the French, rice is to the Chinese, and chillies are to those of Mexican heritage, lentils are to Asian-Indians-an essential ingredient, served in some form at almost every meal. It's an especially crucial staple for South Indian vegetarians who rely on dal as their main source of protein.

Most Indians eat lentils or dal every day. Loaded with protein, they're used in everything from soup and spicy side dishes. In the homes of southern Indians there is a great demand for urad dal and toor dal, both essential ingredients to make idli, vada, dosa and sambar. But now, the usually packed lentil shelves in Indian grocery stores are bare. In Springfield, Virginia and in New Jersey, most of the busy Indian grocery stores do not carry the most sought after item in the Indian cuisine. The storekeepers, like Krishna Groceries in Springfield, Virginia, say they do not know when the next truck carrying their stock will arrive. Hence they have hiked up the prices of dals.

''It is ridiculous. How come we don't have dal,'' some housewives remarked.

The answer to that question has to do with the global economy, and rising inflation in India, the world's prime source of dal. The Government feared lentils might get so expensive that Indians couldn't afford it. So, to ensure an adequate and affordable supply for the domestic market, the Government banned all exports of the precious commodity in June.

Most Indians in the United States can afford to pay higher-prices for the dal. But the problem is, they can't get it. There is not enough stock to go by.

''India is trying to contain inflation, but at the same time it has created inflation outside of India,'' explained Neil Soni. His House of Spices in New York distributes Indian dal to more than 2,000 stores, spread across the United States. He said, ''The price of dals in the US market has tripled. Indians living abroad are at the mercy of the Indian Government.'' The daily appetite for dal is apparent at the nearby Udupi Palace restaurant. Inside the kitchen, a cook stirs a huge pot of sambar.

It is a thick soup made from toor dal, vegetables, ginger, chili, and coriander. The 350-litre pot holds a one-day supply for a small Indian restaurant.

The restaurant has managed to hoard some dal, but fears that this stash would soon run out if supplies do not come in within a week or two.

So importers like Neil Soni have spread their search net across the world, trying to procure supplies from as far away nations as Malawi, Kenya, Turkey, Canada, Burma, Pakistan and Australia.

Indo-Americans fear the dal shortage will continue at least four more months until this winter's harvest begins. Even though Indians who complain of a ''dal crisis'' do agree that it is not life threatening by any stretch of imagination, but are convinced that any dal imported from countries than India, will not taste the same.

India's ban on lentil exports will continue until next April. The ban affects two million Indian expatriates in the US and another 18 million in Central Asia, Canada, Australia, Africa, Europe and Great Britain.

UNI