Food for thought

A lot of folks who are not at all happy with the current world order, the NGO types, think of the days before the British invaded us as good old days. Recently I met someone who thought that the though process of a civilization based on temperate culture would be very different from the thought process of a civilization based on a tropical climate. By nature the tropical climate has lot more diversity; in the Amazon there are insects which are endemic to a tree trunk! To handle this diversity, he claimed that the tropical civilizations never aspired for one size fit all solutions and instead found local solutions to local problems. Though the logic seems not entirely off the mark I am somehow not convinced that those were good old days for everybody. Anyway, there seemed to be a nostalgic vision of the days when global trade was not predominant and the new world was not found.

I was thinking about how the world would be now if Columbus had never set foot on the Americas and the natives there lived unmolested by the Europeans. The first and most frightening thought that came up was I would not be eating potatoes for dinner today! Life without potatoes is not worth living. For that matter, no chilly, no onions, no tomatoes. I really wonder what Indians (at least the vegetarians) ate before Columbus. Actually, you do get a taste of that food if you happen to be a orthodox Tamil Brahmin, or you belong to one such family and happen to like food in general. There is a day in the year which is devoted to the forefathers called shrardham (I am sure it would be the same several other Indian communities) and the meal that is cooked on that day does not contain any foreign vegetables and spices. There is black pepper as spice instead of chilly, moong dal (no toor dal), kothavarangai (I think it is called gavar in either Hindi or Marathi, I don’t know the English name), seppangkazhangu (arbi in Hindi), senakazhangu (yam I think) and such and of course lots of ghee. It excludes almost all the vegetables that we eat regularly like carrots, beans, cabbage (well it is doubtful if cabbage is eaten regularly by any self respecting foodie).

What kind of food people ate during the reign of Rajaraja Chola? Who made the first urulakazhangu curry/poriyal in Tamil Nadu and how did they make it? Did they cut it in small cubes, or did the boil it and peel or did they make it mashed? If only I had a time machine. Are there any food historians who have catalogued the menu at weddings that occurred in the last 300 years? When did the first restaurant start, are there menu cards preserved of a restaurant which was operating in the seventeenth century? Is there a special branch in history dealing with only food? If there is one I would relish it.

Forget the past; even now the sheer diversity of food is mind blowing. Every family has its own recipes and own ways of cooking. The tastes and flavors definitely vary caste to caste. Some of us foodies have thought of making a food documentary titled ‘enna samayal’ which would explore the different aspects of food in various communities and families in Chennai. Is there anyone willing to produce it?

You can guess, I am very hungry right now. I am waiting for Madhavi to get back from her long day at work so that we can eat our dinner. I have cooked kathirikkai kari (finely chopped onions, eggplant cut in small cubes, sautéed in oil with mustard seeds, urad dal, chilly powder and some salt), and masoor dal (I boiled the dal in a pressure cooker, sautéed garlic, green chilly, onions, jeera, kariveppalai (kadi paththa), turmeric powder and dhania powder. Added the dal to that and when cooked added some fresh cut tomatoes and simmered it for 5 minutes) and red rice as the starch. Yes, in honor of these important thought I did not cook potatoes today but I am all for globalization, at least when it comes to food.