Nine Decades of Nirula’s Nation, City, Class

The public restaurant is an important site for exploring a national society’s tryst with modernity. In the nine decades of its run in Delhi, the national capital of India, the trajectory of Nirula’s is inter-woven with the subcontinent’s history and political economy; it bears the imprint of a developmental state and society. Its expansion and diversification into types of eating establishments, reflect the social character of the city, and the changing profiles of consumers in post-independence India. This article analyzes the historical trajectory of Nirula’s, an iconic food company founded in Delhi in 1934. I argue that the career trajectory of Nirula’s is inexplicable without reference to the connection between the changing circumstances of production in a national and global field, the character and culture of Delhi, the national capital, and the attitudes and desires of consumers in context of the formation the middle class in India. The explanation alludes to three registers: nation, city, and class.