Talk:Masala chai

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject India, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of India-related topics. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page.
Stub	This article has been rated as stub-Class on the quality scale. (add comments)
More information about this article... ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.

	Food Portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Food and drink, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of food and drink articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start	This article has been rated as Start-class on the quality scale.
Low	This article has been rated as low-importance on the importance scale.
Food and drink task list: Here are some tasks you can do for WikiProject Food and drink: Help bring these Top Importance articles currently B Status or below up to GA status: Food, Bread, Beef, Curry, Drink, Soy sauce, Sushi, Yoghurt, Agaricus bisporus (i.e. mushroom) Bring these Top Importance articles currently at GA status up to FA status: , Italian cuisine, Cuisine of the Thirteen Colonies, Coffee, Milk, Pasta, French cuisine, Chocolate Bring these High Importance articles currently at GA status up to FA status: Burger King Participate in project-related deletion discussions. Get rid of Trivia sections in articles you are working on. Add the {{WikiProject Food and drink}} banner to food and drink related articles to help bring them to members attention. It could encourage new members to the project too. Provide photographs and images for Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of food Review articles currently up for GA status: Burger King legal issues, Chocolate Review articles currently up for FA status: Butter

[edit] Comment

Hi, I moved this page here from Chai as per discussion on the talk page. The consensus was that chai simply means tea and that the article is about masala chai, which is known as chai in western countries. Most people looking up chai will most likely be looking for / thinking of masala chai without realising, hence the redirect. See Talk:Chai for the discussion as well as other issues about the page. If anyone has objections, be bold. I made this change because there was no dissent on the talk page and nothing had been done about it in months. 152.91.9.219 (talk) 03:02, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Also, I think it is worth leaving the explanation that chai just means tea in the article, so that people understand why they've been redirected. That said, the opening paragraph could be restructured a little, starting off with something like "Masala chai, often simply called chai by western english speakers blah blah", and *then* going on to explain that chai just means tea. 152.91.9.219 (talk) 03:09, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] History of chai masala?

The current edit contains the statement, "The practice of adding spices to tea became popular in India immediately after World War II as a way of marketing low-grade tea leaves in a way that made them more palatable and soon the practice spread to all of Southeast Asia." I find this extremely doubtful; can anyone provide references for this? There are numerous Google mentions of a 5000-year-old Ayurvedic tradition; even if this is dismissed as mere legend, the most recent plausible-sounding origin is based on the premise that tea wasn't introduced to India until the British colonial period, when a market was needed/created to dump off low-grade leaves from the China trade. Wombat1138 (talk) 17:38, 7 April 2008 (UTC)