Ever wondered about the details of the Duckworth Lewis method for rain affected cricket matches and the rationale behind it? Well wonder no more, just head over to Wikipedia and all your questions will be answered. So what is the r/K selection theory? Why, it is the two strategies of living beings to ensure survival - a large number of offspring who don't need much care or a small number with significant investment by the parents. It is all there on wiki. But look up Chivda (accessed on 05 Mar 2016) and what do you get? You get redirected to a page called Bombay Mix. A packet of chivda supposedly sold in the UK. And it is called Bombay Mix. Now I grew up in Bombay when Bombay was called Bombay and I have never heard of the Bombay Mix. But never mind, if the name of a place is in the name of the dish then it is probably not called that in its place of origin, it just originated there and outsiders added the tag later. Again, not so. If there was such a thing as Bombay Mix, it should be either the Batata Chivda or the Farsaan. This one seems to be neither.
So what is chivda? It is a mix of ingredients, usually savoury. There is a wide variety that varies according to regions in India (and probably outside India as well). There are minor variations across shops as well. Many are mixed from the basic ingredients by andaaz (rough estimation) when you order - so it may vary even within a shop. It goes by various names within India - Chivda is a Marathi term (the v is a dead giveaway) and is commonly used in Bombay (now Mumbai).
In modern times, it is also mass manufactured. If chivda, as a generic term, has a few different names then the types have many more. A large number of them may not really have standard names (So how do you ask for them?). So mass manufacturers may make up a type of chivda and while they are at it, make up a name as well.
So with all the hundreds of varieties of Chivda, what differentiates one variety from the other? How do you describe a particular type? Let us count the ways.
Ingredients: The ingredients here are not the basic ingredients like flour, etc. but the types of finished ingredients that are mixed together like sev, cashews, etc. It is not hard to look at a mixture and figure out the individual ingredients. Some may be harder to discern.
Primary Ingredient: Most varieties have one ingredient that forms the backbone of the Chivda. With some, it is harder to identify a dominant ingredient - there is more than one. Finally, there is the single ingredient chivda. Technically, this is not a chivda but is often consumed on its own and in the same situations as a chivda.
Main Flavour: There may be more than one basic taste but one will predominate.
Powder: This is what is left behind when you have finished most of the chivda. It is the powdered spice that has separated out. It hints at where main flavours come from and may not be visible in the whole chivda. Those of us guilty of tipping the last dregs in the packet directly into our mouths know this well.
Pickables: There are several culinary crimes associated with chivda but most of them centre around what I call the 'pickables'. Every chivda and every person has their own pickables. These are ingredients like cashew nuts that you like most. The crimes range from the slightly sneaky pick-a-spoonful-and-grab-a-pickable-or-two to pick-the-pickable-without-bothering-with-the-rest-of-the-chivda to the particularly heinous pick-every-damn-pickable-of-your-choice-from-a-whole-batch-of-chivda-making-the-rest-of-it-pretty-uninteresting.
Source: For a long time, most chivda was purchased from shops that sold chivda along with several other snacks. It wasn't long before they started selling it in sealed plastic packets of doubtful age. Fast forward to today where they are mass manufactured in sealed foil packs and shipped all around the world. If I review a chivda, I will mention the source. If it is mass manufactured, there will be a picture of the packet. If it is from a shop that mixes it themselves then I shall refer to the source as 'Artisan' and probably mention the shop, if I know it.
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