Overcrowded local trains, pav bhaji, vada pav, and rains sum up the aesthetic of Mumbai. For a Mumbaikar, pav is as necessary as air. Interestingly, this pav owes its origins and introduction to Mumbai to the Portuguese and the Goans. At the same time, its entry into the daily life of a Mumbaikar was largely the result of the American Civil War and of British industry. So, this simple pav has more to its resume than being a staple street food. Let’s go beyond the streets of Mumbai to uncover the not-so-Indian origins of pav.
Portuguese Pão to Indian Pav
When the Portuguese docked at the ports of Goa, the food here was rice and local millet, a far cry from the staple diet of the Europeans. As they settled, the need and demand for European bread increased, not only among the households but also in the Catholic church. Historian Fátima da Silva Gracias traces the entry of bread into Goan society. The Jesuit missionaries soon took on the mission to train the converted Indians in European baking techniques. Culinary advancement joined the project of Christianisation of Indians.
But the idea was not as smoothly executed as expected. In Goa, traditional yeast was difficult to formulate due to temperature and humidity differences. Hence, Goan indigenous cooking knowledge was used to create a leavening agent from toddy (fermented sap of palm or coconut). This toddy-fermented dough produced a distinctive sour‑sweet aroma and a tender yet slightly chewy crumb, giving birth to the pav we eat today. European culinary forms combined with local techniques and labour to make Portuguese pão indigenous. The bakers organized themselves into poders, derived from Portuguese padaria or padeiro, meaning baker or bakery. Pre-dawn sounds of poder horns for fresh pav still live in the collective memory of many elderly Goans.
The shift from Portuguese pão to Indian pav linguistically may be an absorption of the loanword in the local dialect. Culinary historian and anthropologist Kurush F. Dalal considers this deviation almost natural. Meanwhile, local people have different answers for this query. One such common explanation holds that in the Marathi language, ‘pav’ means ‘a quarter,’ and in bakery terms, it means ‘a quarter of a loaf.’ Another anecdote entails that the bakers often kneaded the large quantity of dough using their feet (paon), and hence the name. However, food connoisseurs treat these popular explanations as myths on how people relate to this dish and shed light on how the bread became a representation of the fast and laborious life of the industrial laborers of Mumbai in the later centuries.
Bombay – The Pav Land
The Portuguese controlled Bombay from 1534 to 1661. During this period, Roman Catholic and Jesuits settled on these islands and built several churches around them. The Portuguese pão was an important part of Holy Communion, and naturally, was in high demand in the church. For this reason, Kurush F. Dalal observes Goan pav was introduced to Bombay through localised community gatherings, such as church feasts, colonial homes, and Portuguese or Christian village festivals. For many years, the bread remained a minority food consumed only by the colonial subjects.
In the 19th century, the demand for bread increased in the bustling city. The Goan poders, realizing the opportunity, migrated to Bombay for better economic opportunities. They opened bakeries that sold Goan pav. Additionally, Iranian cafes opened up in the urban spaces of Bombay that included pav dishes in their menu. This normalised yeast bread as a quick snack among the public. Dalal and other commentators suggest that, by the early 20th century, Bombay had become a city where pav was readily available in many working‑class neighbourhoods.
With the outbreak of the American Civil War, the cotton industry in England was in chaos. As an alternative, the English industries turned to Bombay for the supply of cotton. This changed the scenario of Bombay, and demand at the Bombay cotton exchange increased. The textile industry laborers needed a quick fix for their hunger, as they could not take long lunch breaks. Pav turned out to be the perfect solution for this predicament. It could be mixed with nutritious gravy because of its absorption capabilities, was fulfilling yet light on the stomach to allow laborious and strenuous tasks, and cheap. Some vendors mashed leftover vegetables with spices and served them with pav, which was readily available from local nearby bakeries and would easily toast in a pan.
However, pav bhaji as a dish was invented only after independence in the 1960s.