My tryst with food

People say food is the way to a man's heart. Food bears the essence of culture of a community. One can not understand a community without exploring the local food. The method of cooking, the selection of ingredients and the style of serving define the uniqueness of every cuisine.

In childhood, I was fond of my mother's authentic Bengali cooking specially fish curry and did hardly try any other cuisine except occasional sweet items our Bihari or Punjabi neighbors  used to offer during festivals. I remember I tasted Chinese food when I was in high school and I relished the taste, but did never think that noodles and momos can be accepted as staple food in place of rice and roti. I started my career with an IT company and moved to US few months after joining the job. Then my 'idea' about food changed completely!

I somehow ate the meal served in the British Airlines flight.  I was simply not impressed by the American food I used to get in office cafeteria. I used to exclaim why Americans are not fond of fully cooked spicy food and how come rice is a side dish and meat is a staple food. Ordering sandwich in Subway used to feel like mini KBC with so many varieties of breads and cheeses to choose from. Once I visited a Japanese restaurant with office mates in lunch time. I almost threw up after gulping the first fish sushi. I was surprised to find my American team members ordering another serving of the same.  I started cooking few selected Bengali dishes. I found kinds of vegetables and spices available in super stores are not a match for what we used to buy back home. Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis run separate grocery stores where vegetables are imported from all these Asian countries. 

Slowly I understood the role of weather and availability of natural resources in adopting food choices. I started learning the health benefits of less cooked and less spicy foods and accepting the natural taste of raw ingredients. I started eating out at American, Mexican, Italian, Ethiopian, Chinese and Japanese restaurants and learning the food components in detail. This experience prepared me to accept and appreciate the local food during my visit to Europe and Canada later in life.

In my younger days, I was under the impression that vegetarians have less option when it comes to menu selection as I hardly knew any vegetarian friend and non-veg food is a must in Bengali menu. I attended a marriage reception of a Rajasthani friend. I was cleanly bowled  by the varieties of lentil items and desserts served in the dining hall.

My work offered me the opportunity to stay in different parts of India. The local cuisine of every state is unique. The unparalleled taste of mysore masala dhosa , bisi bele bath and dharwad peda from Karnataka still bring water in my mouth merely hearing the names of them. Fish molly, puttu with kadala curry and appam with coconut milk from Kerala can give any traveller run for their money. Boundary in foodie's world is less stringent than political world. We often find regional eateries serving food from across India. One can get idly in Kolkata and vada pao in Chennai. Many western brands are now successfully running restaurant business in India. Of course the local restaurants assimilate the local taste to make food palatable to regional customers. For example, McChicken burger does not taste the same across the continents. Sambar tastes different in Bangalore than in Kochi. Daal baati churma prepared in Rajasthan contain more ghee and sugar compared to their counterparts available in other parts of India. The filter coffee prepared fresh every morning in every South Indian household tastes and smells markedly different than the coffee served in other parts of the country. The Bengali inside me used to think that a good biriyani is combination of aromatic spicy rice served with potato, egg and meat. So I felt amazed when the biriyani served in a Chettinad restaurant contained curry leaves with no potato in it. Again spice combination used in Hyderabadi Biriyani is a different saga altogether.  Now I know there is no single right way of making a dish tasty and healthy. 

Few years back, I had to pick a project under diversity inclusion as part of my MBA curriculum. I chose to explore different ethnic cuisines in the city of Jacksonville (USA) where I was pursuing my studies then. I visited Pan Asian, Italian, Arabian, Peruvian and North American restaurants and logged their food components, food combination and interior decoration that speak about their cultural diversity. I met many interesting people during these visits and wished the project never ends. 

Food world is a vast and captivating world. Discoveries and experiments are going on every day in this world. I feel fascinated when I read about butter tea of Bhutan, pork chutney of north-east India, snake soup of China and many such exclusive preparations. A mind stretched to new learning never comes back to its original dimension. I wish to explore many more cuisines in the coming years!