What to Eat in Shirdi Today?

The Prasadalaya meal

The one meal almost every pilgrim eats is the Sai Prasadalaya thali. The temple trust's dining hall feeds tens of thousands of people a day: dal, rice, chapati, two vegetables and a sweet, cooked partly on solar steam. The main hall on the ground floor is free, with a token you get after darshan. Upstairs halls with tables charge a small fee. It is plain, satvik food, and eating it is part of the visit rather than just lunch.

Breakfast: misal pav

Misal pav is Maharashtra's breakfast. A spicy curry of sprouted beans comes topped with crunchy farsan, raw onion and a squeeze of lemon, with soft bread rolls on the side. It is hot, so ask for less spice if you need to. Stalls and small restaurants on the roads around the temple serve it from early morning, which suits people coming out of the Kakad Aarti.

Fasting food: sabudana khichdi

Sabudana khichdi is tapioca pearls cooked with roasted peanuts, potato and cumin. It is light and mild, and it is one of the few things people eat when they fast. Many Sai devotees fast on Thursdays, so you will see it on every menu.

The everyday thali

A Maharashtrian thali is a good lunch outside the Prasadalaya. Expect bhakri (a millet flatbread) or chapati, pithla (a thick gram-flour curry), a dry vegetable, varan-bhaat (plain dal and rice) and koshimbir, a small salad with yoghurt or peanuts.

Something sweet

Puran poli is a soft flatbread filled with jaggery and chana dal, served warm with ghee. Families make it for Holi and Gudi Padwa, and a few restaurants keep it on the menu all year.

What you will not find much of

The area around the temple is almost entirely vegetarian. If you want meat, you will need to go further out, and it is best not to carry non-vegetarian food near the shrines.