Famous Food Rankings Should Be Called Out But Not Why You Think

The TasteAtlas food rankings often spark healthy debates and foodie face-offs on Indian social media, especially when a desi dish makes it to the top. Lately, however, the food guide landed in a soup when Indian foodies questioned the credibility of their best-rated and worst-rated Indian foods; while the ‘pan-Indian’ mango lassi grabbed the top spot for best-rated, the worst-rated food spot was occupied by jaljeera, a go-to digestive drink which is a post-meal staple across Indian households especially during festivities.

The festive North Indian snack gajak, the beloved and rustic Bengali panta bhat and the popular upma all featured on the worst-rated food list, which did not go down well with Indians. “Unfortunately this list is negligence max. All of our heirloom recipes are on that worst list. Indian culture celebrates seasonal produce. Gajak, Panta Bhat are all examples of this. And it fell into the worst list. This is what happens when the world wants to think they know everything about India,” a follower commented on Taste Atlas’s Instagram page. 

Hundreds of other foodies joined in and with good reason, too. Why was Chai Masala the second-best-rated Indian dish on this list, when the desi masala chai doesn’t really use a designated chai masala at all? Why were the top spots in the best-rated list occupied by dishes which have made it to the global culinary map? 

Butter garlic naan, tandoori chicken, shahi paneer, korma all happen to be dishes with a global following. They are widely available in Indian restaurants across the world and not to mention, Butter Chicken was never really an Indian creation at all! So, what gives? 

Is it possible that these rankings weren’t decided by the opinions or votes of actual Indians? Is that why so many comfort food and seasonal staples landed on the worst-rated list because they are not really available in Indian restaurants in the US, UK or Australia?  “Guys, you need to actually ask Indians to rate the dishes,” remarked a follower. “A very carefully curated list of Indian foods by non Indians definitely. I have no idea what you guys were even thinking when you put Mirchi ka Salan on that list,” wrote another.

Founded in 2015 by Croatian journalist and entrepreneur Matija Babić, TasteAtlas launched in 2018 as it needed more than three years of research and development. Its many food rankings which it releases year-round are reportedly done using all article mentions, reviews, Google Search popularity as well as relevant certificates, such as EU food schemes, Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage, and Ark of Taste. 

Back in 2022, the World’s Top 50 Cuisines Ranking released by TasteAtlas featured Malaysia in the 46th position; critics and culinary experts took issue with Malaysia’s low score and raised questions about the methodology used by TasteAtlas. The backlash was so severe that Taste Atlas released a statement breaking down parts of its methodology for its food rankings. 

The food catalogue revealed that it has a database of more than 15,000 local dishes and ingredients that the public can vote on throughout the year. It then calculates the average of the best-rated dishes in each cuisine to create the list at the end of each year. 

The platform emphasises that the list is a “reflection of the valid voices of real people.” In a separate comment made to The Vibes magazine, the company had revealed that it uses artificial intelligence to establish and validate if the ratings that are keyed are genuine.

“For example, users that give excellent ratings to one country from one location and bad ratings to other countries are eliminated. There are a number of other criteria according to which the system assesses whether the user is real and well-meaning or whether the bot or voice is nationalistic,” the company said. As per a 2022 report, the company, comprising a team of about 30 authors and researchers, has catalogued some 9,000 restaurants across the globe. 

However, the question remains can these local food rankings be taken seriously if they are not exclusively being determined by Indians living within the country with access to different cuisines and experience in regional palates? It’s crucial to note that Taste Atlas rankings are titled quite vaguely and skip out on key contexts. 

Their list titled ‘From best to the worst rated Indian foods,’ doesn’t really say whether it’s restricted to votes or ratings of residing Indians or if the survey was a global one which would invariably result in more pan-Indian options.

Similarly, another recent ranking titled ‘10 Best Dishes With Mango’ featured Maharashtra’s aamras as its top contender; but surely this popular Indian number isn’t easily available across the world? Mango sticky rice, the second name on the list, however, is widely available across Asian eateries across the world. 

Maybe it’s purely a numbers game, which is why aamras received an outpouring of ratings from Indians. This would certainly explain why the yearly TasteAtlas World’s Best Cuisines ranking needed enough ratings from each country. “Countries that are not on the list do not have enough items rated,” TasteAtlas wrote in the caption for 2022 rankings. 

Desi foodies, however, remain disgruntled over finding desi favourites such as thandai, malpua, thengai sadam in the worst-rated list. Hydeberadi biryani’s presence over dum biryani and Kolkata biryani too has raised some eyebrows. “Hyderabadi biryani at 4.5??? you must be joking,” wrote a follower. “You can’t get Hyderabadi Biryani without Salan. How can one half of the dish is on the best while other is worst?” remarked another foodie.