There was also a grocery store in the shopping district, selling a variety of colorful vegetables

Among the many shops lining the bustling marketplace, there was, of course, a vegetable vendor. A large table stood at the storefront, overflowing with colorful produce—tomatoes, eggplants, cauliflower, carrots, ginger. Many of these were familiar, commonly found in Japan as well. Yet, I noticed something missing: leafy greens like cabbage, celery, or spinach were nowhere to be seen. Were these vegetables simply not cultivated as much in India?

But then, a thought struck me.

In Japanese Indian restaurants, one of the staple dishes—right alongside butter chicken—is saag curry, a dish packed with spinach. Could it be that this spinach-based curry was a Japanese creation, adapted for local tastes? That didn’t seem right.

More likely, spinach is widely used in other parts of India, just not in Mumbai. Perhaps in North India, where saag curry originates, leafy greens are more commonly found. What I was seeing here wasn’t a lack of spinach in Indian cuisine—but rather a reflection of regional food diversity within the country.

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