I seem to be striking a chord with books which have the word 'monsoon' in the title. Quite recently I picked this book as I wanted to read more of Indian authors. I was in for a great surprise when I discovered that the author Shoba Narayan is culturally very similar to me and my family. Though I enjoy reading lots of firangi books, nothing can equal the joy of reading a book which has passages and words that are part of my everyday living and identity. Monsoon Diary is a beautiful collection of the author's life interwoven with typical South Indian recipes(with a strong Mallu influence). Simply reading them made me feel glad that I've been enjoying them all my life. Tell me, where do you find a book that gives you the recipe of creamy Olan?Being a student of Nutrition,I've often wondered if anything can be as wholesome and satiating as a plate full of , say, sambhar mixed with rice with a couple of vegetable side-dishes and of course the grand finale of curd rice and pickle. The other day, I was watching a totally unknown TV programme. An impeccably dressed chef was deftly arranging a strange cuisine on a clean white plate.He used a million ingredients for the recipe. The food occupied a very small place on the plate. Somehow, it didn't create the impression of plentifulness always created by our own Indian fare. I may be very narrow minded to think like that. But still the image of a fresh green banana leaf or a thali covered with different types of food made the one I was watching (a sterile looking plate with a tiny blob of 'food' in the center with a spray of something the chef called 'sauce' scantily covering it like the trail of a dried up river!) looked totally absurd! Can this satiate a human being- leave alone possessing the healing properties so characteristic of Indian ( particularly South Indian) food?
The extent to which we identify ourselves with our culture through the medium of food was made clear to me through this...
4 Wisecracks:
April's Lady,
Is the food we have here, so very good? Are we so very healthy? The food here has too much oil, too much spices, and too much of everything... :)
Indian food or actually asian foods are much healthier than the western counterparts.. if health can include mental health.. because you need to be fulfilled with the food and your wallet on it.
At the same time, food in the west is too inventine, researched for modern times, rather than indian or asian foods. for example, in the west they wont mind making one small blob of food in the center of plate take four different chefs and 40 different ingredients, and 3 flames to make, if they have researched it for tickling a specific taste bud that makes it go well with a particular type of wine and all.
i read somewhere that the indian 'masala' has become a default with most london-ers and all london restaurant have different types of the masala.. and some of them even go the extra mile to hire traditional indian chefs to just make the masala for their menus. also, i saw a hotelier interview where someone was saying they had 600 different masalas available for the menu based on what are the other foods on the course for the customer that day.
if anybody is doing phd in food, they should do it in the west. thats were they are researching food.. not here, not to that extent.
I agree with whatever you have rambled! here di. Our food is more appetising and fullfiling. Cos i too saw many cooking shows of west. They serve jus the platter as we are barely able to see the blob of food on it.
Hi Sangeetha, I liked your article, as I really can identify with it. I mean, all those TV shows with beautifully presented dishes are nothing when compared to our delicious thali. And to critics, we sure can reduce the oil in our cooking and make it more healthy. Cheers..
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