Back from India-wonderfull!
 

Thank you for the advice.
I had a fascinating trip and had no problems with food or anything-but then, I was living in a cocoon.
Stayed at top hotels, drank only bottled water, no ice but plenty of scotch, avoided raw fruits and salads.
Did go to a few roadside restaurants near Chennai with our rep and had the thalli-no problem (much to my surprise).
Also, had plenty of Indian food in Delhi and Chennai at the major restaurants-all of which I found spicy/flavored but not
super "hot". This surprised me and I wonder if the spice level was lowered for the foreigner?

in most of the big restaurants you need to specify how spicy/hot you want your food....if you don't then it will never be 'super hot', just a little hot....

Plan to be careful and stick to it
 

I've gone to India 6 times from age 2 until 3 years ago. I got sick every time except for once. When I say sick, I don't mean cholera, typhoid, etc but 1-day-long GI events. The only reason I got sick last time I went was I caved and drank a lassi (yogurt drink) in a cafe. Don't do that. Just stick to your plan of eating at nice restaurants, drinking bottled water/alcohol/sodas, and using common sense which is certainly easier said than done. Have a great time!

welcome to ft xrayvision....seems like you waited a long time for your first post....

How about hot coffee at a Starbucks? Safe?

Starwhat? I've had hot and cold drinks at many coffee chains with no issues.

More importantly - I don't think I've ever even seen a Starbucks in India. Do they exist?

I found out that there is a Lavarro (or however you say it) coffee shop in my complex. I have been pleasantly surprised with everything I've gotten there.

I did everything right before I went to India three weeks ago, but I still got a bad stomach after approx 30h.

Turns out it was the malaria medication my doctor prescribed me that caused it. The day after I stopped taking it, my stomach returned to normal.

So my advice, just make sure you eat stuff that is well cooked and only drink bottled water/sodas and stay away from the most spicy things and you'll be fine.

no starbucks in india....there are a bunch of other chains like coffee bean, cafe coffee day, barista, costa coffee, etc....all pretty good....

the best season for a trip to india is autumn to winter and you will not get sick during these days.

Wow, that is a bold statement. Base upon what would you say that someone won't get Delhi belly during the autumn and winter?

i think the correct statement would be that you are more likely to get sick in the summer due to the insane heat....but that doesn't mean you won't get sick in autumn or the winter....

For future readers of this post there is a product called travelan (link here): http://www.travelan.org/

We used it before every meal in india and didn't get sick once during 10 days on two separate visits. We ate at hotels, but also at local restaurants and even at the seaside in Goa.

Highly recommend the product. Once we got back home we had a slight upset stomach for a day or so - but that was probably because we weren't using the travelan anymore and our bodies were adjusting back to the usual bacteria!!

I guess it was really a bold one. The correct line would be 'you are less likely to get sick in autumn and winter'.

let me know if anyone needs suggestions on where to eat in delhi....i'll be happy to provide a few names....