A skinny man working at a chow mein stall, holding an ingredient vegetable in each hand

Skinny man holding plastic bags — Food stall cook

A man was sitting on a chair in an alley in Kolkata. He had skinny cheeks and a long neck. He had a plastic bag of vegetables on his lap. He had just returned from stocking up on groceries. He was breathing heavily.

The stall where the man worked was a stall that served chow mein. The word "chow mein" does not exactly ring a bell as to what kind of dish it is, but if you know that it is written in Chinese characters as "stir-fried noodles," you can get a vague idea. It is one of the Chinese dishes using Chinese noodles, or yakisoba as it is called in Japan. Yakisoba noodles derived from Chinese cuisine are called "chow mein" in this area and are very popular.

Chow mein can be roughly classified into two types: one in which Chinese noodles are stir-fried with vegetables, meat, and other ingredients, and the other in which noodles are cooked in an iron pan and covered with a thickened potato starch paste. The man's chow mein seems to be the former, as I can see a gas cylinder beside him, so he must be stir-frying the vegetables over a high flame.

Having stocked up on ingredients, his work should now begin. But he already looks exhausted. It is like Japanese businessmen who start work after being shaken by a crowded train, to be tired before the work begins.

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