💬 I eat the crunchy part of the chaat first, before the chutney gets to it

Sev puri, papdi chaat, dahi puri, it doesn't matter. I always eat the crunchy part first. The sev, the papdi, whatever is still dry. Before the chutney soaks in and everything goes soft. My father always laughed at me for this. He eats it slowly, mixing everything together as it comes. By the time he's halfway through, it's basically porridge. And he's very happy with that. We went to a chaat place near Nampally once, on one of our drives to the old city. I ordered a plate of sev puri. It came out with a pile of sev on top, still crisp. I ate all of the sev first, from the sides, one bit at a time, before touching the puris. My father watched me do it. Then he said, you eat like someone defusing a bomb. I do think there's a logic to it. The best part of chaat is the contrast. Crunch and soft, sweet and sour. If you wait too long, the crunch is gone and then it's just a wet, spicy mush. So I eat the crisp bit while it's crisp, and the soft bit when it's soft. It's simple. My wife says I'm overthinking a plate of street food. That's exactly why it's good, I say. I know some people save the crunchy bit for last, as a reward. I don't understand that at all. By then it's lost, surely. You can't reward yourself with something that's already soggy. Anyone else have a strict order for eating something? There's got to be others like me. This evening we're having chaat. I'm going to start with the sev and not look up.

Eating the crunch first is a plan with a deadline. I am with you on that. My wife mixes everything and calls it the true flavour, which I think is her way of saying she never gets to the crunch in time. Maybe order the papdi and the chutney on separate plates. A friend does that in Abids and the waiter pretends not to notice.

I'm the opposite. Papdi last, every time. Everything else gets soggy, so I leave the crunch waiting at the end. My cousin eats it your way and we argue about this at every family gathering. Same argument, every year. Last Eid my aunt ordered chaat for 15 people and we both ate our plates in front of everyone. She said we're both wrong and should just eat it. Neither of us has moved an inch.