The Tapioca Fusion: Plating a Class Question

Tapioca, 'kappa' as it called in Malayalam has always had its identity connected to the poorer sections of the society. It has been perceived as a poor man’s food, for decades. I fondly remember this popular Malayalam movie scene of the 1980s, in which a classroom teeming with students stands shell shocked, as the 'Hero’s' lunch box falls down and cubes of tapioca spread on the floor. Such is the stigma associated with this very tasty food. 

A probable reason for this connection could be traced back to the very history of tapioca farming in Kerala. Tapioca was introduced in Kerala by the Portuguese in the 17th century (There are contradicting literature stating that it was introduced in 1860). The crop was popularized in Malabar by the peasant migrants of Central Travancore. Starting from 1942, as the Japanese invaded Myanmar (then Burma), Kerala lost connection with its source of rice import leading to serious shortage in rice availability. Tapioca, which was then scarcely cultivated was popularized as a staple food alternative by the British. This resulted in rice being a very expensive commodity and those who could not afford it, had to restrain to this alternative option.  

Reminiscences of times of food shortage thus identifies Kappa as a symbol of poverty.  Many of those memories of the times of shortage would have faded over generations, but the association of Kappa as a working class food remained.

There are of course, stylized presentations and marketing strategies tried these days, placing tapioca as an adventure cuisine. Even those trials are ultimately reinforcing the underlying class association of this staple diet.

This is not a trend limited to Kerala. Internationally, tapioca has been reported to be associated with poor man’s diet.  Indonesia has the largest percapita consumption of this food. Another interesting fact is that cassava’s (technically-the root from which tapioca is extracted) consumption pattern matches with that of maize. In lower income groups, the use of rice lowers and the consumption of maize and cassava rises.  

In Vietnam, Tapioca is celebrated as  a war food  and again relates back to the times of dispair.

Image Source: Anger Food

A major format of consumption of cassava is as flour. Gaplek, the most common Indonesian version is reported to be gluten free and high in carbohydrates.  Cassava cakes and other desserts are made out of this flour. Sabudana, a form of Sago is quite exhaustively used in North and Central India as diet in times of fasting. 

Further, in Latin America cassava is associated only with marginal farm environments. The largest producers in this part of the world are Brazil and Paraguay and most of their produce is used as animal feed. The Brazilian version of tapioca flour is called fariha. In Colombia and Paraguay the roots are eaten fresh and raw. Casabe is a flat bread made of dried, mashed roots, which is used in the Caribbean and North-eastern South America.  

Did you know that Kerala and very rural parts of Vietnam and China are the only places in the world where cassava is boiled and eaten without processing?  FAO states so in one its researcharticle and claims this practice of preprocessed consumption as a very rural practice. (I wonder why Srilanka, which has parallels for almost all Kerala versions of Tapioca dishes is not mentioned here). Look at this quote from that paper “Fresh consumption has limited growth potential, and in fact will probably decline with increasing urbanization and changes in dietary preferences”.

It is proven that raw tapioca has cyanide in it and it can be toxic if eaten raw. However, all the people I know who enjoys munching through even a whole tuber are very much alive  

Kerala has improvised quite a bit on the boiled format of kappa. Seasoning with mustard and adding grated coconut adds a lot of flavor.Kappa Biriyani, flavored with spices and mixed with beef used to be a typical wedding eve snack (quite heavy a snack) for Syrian Christians. 

Can mashed tapioca be a replacement for mashed potato?  This is the thought behind me trying this fusion dish. 

Here mashed tapioca seasoned with mustard and grated coconut replaces mashed potato. The sauce, then obviously had to come from a place of relevance to this cuisine. The Indonesian green chilly sambal is the inspiration for the sauce. The base of this sauce is steamed chilies. Not to mention that it was improvised to fit the larger perspective of the dish. The beef on the plate is basically minced beef steak in soya sauce and garlic.   

Let’s call it the Tapioca Fusion.!!!

To be Organic or not to be: The foodie’s New Year resolution

Everyday news papers come up with a lot of hue and cry on ‘’Why should we not eat’” a new particular thing. The veggies are being tested positive for pesticide residues and meat is being rated ‘hazardous’’, thanks to the production and post production techniques. Increasingly food joints are being raided and adulterated food is being brought to light. New findings explaining the science of why a particular food can harm your health have become a daily thing. In totality, we seem to live in a world of fright. In the contest between the taste bud instincts and the informed intellect, often the fright wins it for the intellect.

The Organic Market

The ‘Organic Market’ is one major beneficiary of this increasing fright. Brands, certifications and other perceived symbols of ‘safe food’ are growing to be variables in the decision to eat or not to eat. Anything green is perceived to be organically produced. Stores now have dedicated shelves for organic food but at a premium price.  The term ‘’organic’ has ultimately become a symbol of sellability. This is not just limited to organized marketing. Being organic; eating organic; wearing organic; these have become style statements of the day.

This is not to suggest that we must ignore the breach of safety norms in food production and processing. Instead, this is to suggest that ‘’Being Organic’’ as it is popularly perceived today, is resulting in two scenarios.

Scenario 1: The Organic Label winning over the food culture

The first scenario is that the ‘’culture’’ of trust in agri-culture is being replaced by symbols of being ‘organic’. For instance, there are many eateries across the world which got popular because of its patron’s trust that food served there won’t be compromised on its safety and purity. So is the case with farmers whom people trust to produce safe food.  Now this trust is not based on any certification. In other words, these food producers and the food they produce are not ‘’Organic’. Now, this is where I get confused. Aren’t they   more ‘Organic’” as the process of building this age old trust is genuinely organic.    

Scenario 2: The vicious organic cycle

The second scenario is that, more the fear on the safety of food, the more the demand for so called organic food. Reluctantly, the shelves of stores will have more and more premium food. Gradually, being premium will replace the trust element discussed above. The market existence of non certified good food will be seriously challenged. The only possibility to exist as 'good' would be to be sold as premium.

More serious is this issue as we look at it from the access to food perspective. In the vicious supply demand chain of organic food, good and safe food will increasingly become inaccessible to the common man.

The foodie's New Year Resolutions

The increasing list of not to eat, is an existential identity challenge for every foodie. As a hardcore foodie, my New Year resolution is to fight hard to remain a foodie. Thus these personal New Year resolutions;

1. In the contest between the taste bud instincts and the informed intellect, side the taste buds
2. Play  a bit more of badminton and burn some extra calories so that I can eat more
3. Not to fall for the propaganda of the fear factories
4. Grow some more veggies in the backyard
   
   
   
   
5. Zero food wastage
6. Try two new recipes a week
7.  Invent two foods a month
8. More Dinner Thoughts
9. Go for small joints as you eat out                       and most importantly
10. LIVE TO EAT

 

Calicut Momo Fiesta

The access to diversity and quality of food always has been the core value of Calicut food industry. Another key quality of Calicut food culture has been its adaptability to different genre of food. A good example of this is the mushrooming food joints copying the American fried chicken concept and are offering almost the same quality, ambience and the value system associated with it.Food joints in Calicut and the places around have utilized all alphabets Á’to ‘Z’’, as prefix for FC (Fried Chicken) as names.

So is the case with Italian food. New joints serving Italian food are opening up in Calicut and people are accepting them happily to be a part of the Calicut brand of food.  

However, the story of Momos in Calicut never has been the same. Momos are always known to be connected with streets and the rest of India, especially its northern side has accepted it as an everyman’s snack. The most popular momo joints are street food joints. Dolma Aunty’s momo joint in Lajpath, New Delhi, is the best example of this. But in Calicut, momos were till now restrained to high end coffee shops and hotels and never were accessible to the foodie public of Calicut. Momos are known in these hotels mostly in the larger bracket of dumplings, which would be an alien term to the streets and street foodies.  

Thankfully, Calicut has now responded to this culinary gap. A ‘’food on wheel’ joint called ‘’Eat Box’” has come up with momos, combining it with the street feel. The Éat Box”’ parks opposite to Sarovaram Bio Park, starting from four in the evening and sells wonderful ‘’Nilpan’” cuisines. (Nilpan is the Malayalam expression referring to having a quick standing drink at a bar counter, without even wasting time to sit down). They are open till eleven thirty in the night.

As in any street kiosk, the menu is simple and straight forward here.  Eat Box serves Momos, Falafel, Kebab Rolls, Cinnamon Tea and couple of premixed fruit flavored drinks.  The rates are pretty reasonable to Kerala standards.

The whole presentation, with an illuminated logo and subtle graffiti is so inviting that, I made my wife wait for half an hour before she was picked up, as I was dragged in by the surprise of street momos in Calicut. The vendor, who had a sling bag as the cash chest was taking impressive efforts to introduce these dishes which are new to the streets of Calicut. He introduces falafel as a softer version of Parippu Vada (Lentil Vada). These to me are signs of momo getting inducted into the culinary vocabulary of the Calicut brand of food.  

Another added pleasure for me at Eat Box was meeting Chandro Jamathia from Udaipur, Tripura, who is the chef at this new venture.  I suggested him to introduce Russian salad, as it is called in the streets of Tripura, a chicken delicacy, which I expect to win the hearts and tongues of Calicut. 

The kebab roll made my day and the Humbai (Thank you in Kokborok, which is the local language of Tripuris) from me, for sure made the day for Chandro Jamathia. 

The foodies diary from Agartala

Every food trail in Tripura starts with pork and leads to pork. However, to unearth it you need a real explorers will, as the local food culture of the state is being overpowered by the inevitable consequences of the Bangla cultural hegemony. The local cuisine is now being dominated by Bangla delicacies, however, this is not to be confused with the natural give and take evolution that melting pots of culture undergo. This is exactly why this foodies diary demanded a challenging exploration.

The first food stop was at a tiny tea joint, where we were taken by surprise by the cousin version of 'Madakku' an old time Kerala snack.

Shingli Jamathia, a very talented final year student at NIT Agartala instantly realised the kind of places and food we were looking for. He unleashed all his resources to ensure the richness of our experience.

Food, Food and more Food

Through twists and turns and roads narrow, we reached Lalit Bazar, where we attended a Christmas carnival. And there I found what I was looking for. Stalls umpteen,all serving pork, chicken, fish and snail in diverse formats. That means food, food and more food.

Moka

 Russian Salad

 Washutohan

Our experiments with food continued

Our experiments with food continued.

Right under the mythic Chethuang tree, which is considered a bridge to heaven, was the Dhabha where our next food encounter happened.

The spread here was elaborate, served one by one as in a multi course meal. The dry fish based side chutney , 'gudog' was strong but unique. The baking soda based chutney 'Puhan awandro' is also an essentiality with rice.

Puhan awandro and gudok

Pork boiled with chilli, garlic and ginger.

One interesting feature was the similarity of the chicken and mutton dishes to a typical 'garam masala' based malabar chicken or mutton masala. We attributed this similarity to the possible influence of missionaries from the southern part of the country.

The grand fiesta was at Baishya Mani Para, where we attended a community event and feasted on the sacrificed goat, pig and chicken.Read more here

Rotis, which is a rarity here has yellow and brown versions. The yellow one is made of maida and the brown of wheat. The end note of this diary can't be nothing else than the percieved class question between maida and wheat.As malabar is busy establishing the villain in maida, this part of the world, from where this diary is noted, considers maida a luxury and that's served only to guests, in their honour. The host would rather restrain to wheat roti.

Dennis Debbarma, thank you for the photographs. Teachers this food crazy, was a definite surprise for him. Hambai  Dennis and Shingli.

A day worth reliving a hundred days

It was a day worth reliving a hundred days. We were attending the ' belong ceremony' of Kalai community. It is a tradition being followed since 447 years. The event goes after the Udaipur king handing over the ceremonious sword to Kalai community. The event is called 'Kalai Rai Balma Pandas' which translates Kalai King Carrying Ceremony. Here is where the 7 ministers of the community from all across Tripura come together to make the rules for the community.

This is a closed community event.We were privileged to cross this as were specially invited guests.

The sacred food

The event starts with the sacrifice... Please don't be judgmental here. A pig, a goat and a chicken were sacrificed ceremoniously. And then we cooked it and had the lunch served.

And then the rising trance with, Desi daaru..

And then the Rai (the king) and six ministers were gloriously taken to the throne...

The new king

The current Rai is the 148th.
The event ends with the retiring king taken on the Thang Chang, the chariot to his home. The new king will be selected, rather the sixth minister will be promoted as the king the next day
Special thanks to Dennis Debbarma and Shingli Jamathia for making this possible

Lets Wait for the Incident to happen

Travelling by train, an unfortunate circumstance given the cancellation of flights in Delhi due to fog, led me to relive the inevitable reality – when it comes to woman, action is taken only when an ‘incident’ happens. 

Image source:https://www.pinterest.com/pin/405605510159754509/
Sitting in a near empty compartment and reading the latest e-books, I was finally enjoying some ‘me’ time and reminiscing of some memorable train journeys in the past. I was lost in my own world until it came time for dinner; I rose up from my seat and walked up to the wash stand. I noticed the smell of spirits when I crossed a compartment, twice removed from mine. A group of men (who I later came to know were from the Army) were noisily enjoying high spirits and snacks. It felt unsafe to walk through them and yet it was unavoidable. Suddenly, my safety seemed precarious, a hundred different stories of women being assaulted, shared by aunts, sisters, friends and complete strangers rang true in my ears. It didn’t feel right to just sit there and do nothing. If it wasn’t me, someone else could get hurt, I thought. So, I did the decent thing, I informed the head food server in my compartment and asked him to call the TT. In no time, I saw men slinking away from the said compartment and by the time the much delayed TT arrived, they had all apparently disappeared. 
It was the TT’s explanation that angered me the most, he began by explaining how half the population in the compartment were Army men and were hence in some way above censure. He then went on to tell me, none of the culprits were from the bogey we were in but had seemed to have come in from an adjoining bogey to drink. Next, even more ludicrously he told me that if I wanted to file a complaint, I could do so on ‘Twitter’. For a moment I laughed, wondering how it would have looked, a Twitter post that read, “#heartofjoy@help I am being raped”. He claimed he could take action only when an ‘incident’ was reported.
That’s what happens all the time, isn’t it. We wait for a woman to get assaulted, raped, murdered and then blame it either on her provocative dressing or on her questionable character or on her unfortunate circumstances and if nothing else works we can always blame the man for being drunk and thus senseless. And for all my efforts, I was rudely woken up by two railway policemen at 1am at night and asked for my Seat No. and PNR. That’s it!
India really seems to be shining. 

A Picture Story..For a Change

The little foodies experiments