How America Fell For Indian Dal

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]Our government accidentally made Americans love dal. In the late 80s, Pepsi was entering India. Our government told them, "If you sell cola here, export Indian food abroad." Pepsi handed the task to its superstar, Ashok Wasuan.

[00:00:10]Near Pune, he found a company called Tasty Bite. They sold heat and eat Indian meals in these pouches that you've 100% traveled with. They were in losses since Indians didn't want packaged di food. He helped them export some products to the US, but spotted an opportunity everyone missed. Americans loved Indian food in restaurants, but nobody had brought our food in American homes. He quit Pepsi, pulled his savings and bought tasty bite himself. The feedback on his initial products was Americans felt intimidated and unfamiliar with Indian names. So he renamed them. Aluch Chole became Bombay potatoes. Palak paneer became Kashmir spinach and dal maknney became Madras lentil. Then came distribution. American supermarkets charged a massive fee just to place the products he couldn't afford. Indian grocery stores were indifferent. So he started with local health stores marketing this as a clean vegetarian product. The response was good. He used that to convince chains like Costco and Walmart. set up sampling counters serving warm dal or madras lentils over rice. So they went gaga.

[00:01:00]The brand exploded and became India's largest prepared food brand in the US.