India, Feb. 20 -- It's a little after 9 am on a balmy February morning, and the dense lanes of old Delhi have begun to put themselves together. The cables hang over one's shoulders, the labourers draw up carts to restock shop supplies, and the nanbais (bread makers) roll out dough balls to make fresh rotis.

The smell of tandoors, attars, and curries buried in handis wafts through the air, and amid all this chaos is food historian and writer Dr Pushpesh Pant, sporting a beret and a greedy smile, as he sits down with HT for breakfast at the iconic Al Jawahar restaurant near Jama Masjid - to talk about fables of feasts, mutton cutlets, the imprint of the British on the city's eating habits, and his latest book From the King's Table to Stree...