Karingali Vellam of Kerala -Made in China

Every visitor in Kerala, both foreign and domestic is taken by surprise, as they have their first food experience here. As water is served, to be had with a meal, ‘confused’ is the obvious state of every first timer. Staring at the pink colored liquid in the glass, in a state of daze, some may even declare their strict adherence to teetotalism.

By the way, the liquid that’s served, pink in colour and sometimes mildly golden, is not alcohol but hot water boiled with fennel, bark of Pathimugham (East Indian Red Wood) or Karingali (Cutch Tree). They are called Jeeraka Vellam and Karingali Vellam in Malayalam.

So, why does Kerala drink boiled water even with a hot, spicy meal? When and how did this practice begin and why is it so popular?

The rich heritage of Ayurveda, must be an apparent answer that comes to one’s mind. But is there more sociology and history into it?

Often this is thought to be habit limited to Kerala. Is it? Yes and No.

In India this is a practice limited to Kerala.  However, surprised you may be to know that this is a pan Asian habit and a very common practice in China. With Kerala’s historic trade linkage with China and it having adopted a number of other things from China including the Chinese Fishing Net and Kanji (Rice Porridge), did the habit of drinking boiled water also come from China?

Call them hypothesis or not, some logical reasons which worked individually and in combination to make this practice so popular and maintain its popularity through generations are being presented here.  Considering the spiritual and philosophical associations that communities have with water and the varied associated meanings for water served along with food, these questions become more interesting.

Ayurveda, as practiced in the pre-independence period and centuries before had a very different perspective and outlook from today’s version.  It was more of a repository of local knowledge which allowed space for innovation, than the closed institutionalized format it has now. In other words, Ayurveda was an open social system which functioned through the knowledge shared by practitioners of varied social orders. For example, a healer would explain to a patient the way a decoction was to be prepared and this information percolates into the society and improvises itself into another medical knowledge. The benefit of drinking boiled water, Ushnodoka, as it is referred to in Ayurveda has always been a part of this local wisdom.  This wisdom would have passed on through generations to make drinking hot water a common habit.  

The second assumption connects to the drinking water hygiene campaigns which were pushed by both royal and British administration in the modern history so as to prevent epidemics. Literature on epidemics states that in 1925, it was common with the economically better off in Kerala to use water boiled with cumin (Nag, 1987). How about the poorer sections? Interestingly, they resorted to Kanji vellam, which is boiled rice water, which is also a rich source of starch. So, the poor and rich, all of them drank hot water.

              

 

Many studies which enquired the relatively lesser outbreaks of waterborne epidemics in Kerala, have found the consumption of boiled versions of water to be a significant influential factor (Nag, 1987). These findings would have been obviously used as a community medicine extension input. 

There was very strong emphasis by Travancore royal administration on community health campaigns. Quarter of the heath budget of 1941-42 was reportedly spent on Cholera and Malaria eradication (Singh,2015).   Also , the communist movement empowered people to be vigilant of public policies. It is to be noted here that Kerala became the first Indian state to have completely eradicated Malaria by 1965. 

All these campaigns preached drinking hot water as a preventive tool subscribing to the research findings on boons of boiled water.  Gradually, this would have become the norm. Further to add taste and science to this concept of hygiene, improvisations were made based on Ayurveda and so resulted  all the versions of hot water popular today.

The third assumption is connected with Sree Narayana Guru, a social reformer who denounced superstitions, rejected casteism and was a healer himself.  He preached ‘drink hot water and bathe in cold water’ theory which was an important shared health knowledge. The observations of Nag (1987) in terms of the social class divide in drinking hot water also connect back to the social structure which existed during the life time of Sree Narayana Guru.  With his huge influence in the society, his campaigns on this note would have had great impact.

The final and the most interesting assumption is that Kerala’s own Karingali vellam and its cousins were ‘Made in China’. Though that was on a lighter note, reading together the facts that drinking hot water is a common Asian trend and there were strong ancient trade links between the West Coast and China, couldn’t there be a connection with China and Kerala’s Karingali Vellam? Kerala got its celebrated Chinese Fish Net, Cheena Chatti (Chinese Frying Pot), Cheena Kali Mannu (Chinese Sand for Pottery) very much from its trade partner since ancient times, China. Kerala’s Kanji (Rice Porridge) has an improvised parallel in other Asian countries called Congee which has thousands of years of recorded history of consumption in China.  

In China, it’s very common to carry and store boiled drinking water in thermos. References on drinking hot water in China go back to one of the most ancient Chinese texts, I Ching, which was written in the 7^th century BC. The legend on the evolution of Tea also confirms that drinking hot water was very common then in China.  In Vietnam, every restaurant offers you free hot herbal drink (Green Tea mostly) just like free boiled water comes free with a meal in Kerala restaurants.

So, are Jeeraka Vellam and Karingali Vellam -Made in China????

(Thank you Vinod Krishnan T Y, Manoj Kumar A K and Dr. Suresh Kumar for those crucial inputs. Albert, kudos to the constant motivation)

Biriyani was not made in a day

Contemporary food practices and food culture are nothing but embodied history. The food of a place and the norms around it are not mere constructions of cookery, but the cultural memory of its people. It carries and reflects the influence of history on the evolution of contemporary culture. So is the story of Malabar food. It has evolved through the historic cosmopolitan exposure that the coasts of Malabar had. So much do we hear about the glory of Calicut Biriyani, Naichorou (Ghee Rice), Pathiri and so on (in combination known as the Mappila food of Calicut). The social adoption and acceptance of the mappila food is very much rooted in the history of this place.  

It’s well known that the Malabar food is influenced by Arab trade and the connections of Malabar with the Middle East. However, the evolution of the Mappila food as we experience it today, is not limited to the imposition of an external cultural entity. It has more to do with the food habitus of a community which looks outward resolutely towards the Indian Ocean for more connections and opportunities. The community being talked about here is the Mappila (Muslim) community of Calicut.  

Every food story in Calicut is a celebration of the heyday of Arab trade which started in the early centuries, rose to great prominence by the beginning of the fourteenth century and remained to be on highs up to the 1970s. The hospitality of Calicut evolves from the embodied food memory of festive feasts organized by the wealthy local traders to entertain Arab businessmen. Salkaram (A feast), which is a Malabar peculiarity are reminiscent of parties hosted in turns by bazaar traders (Market-referring to Valiangadi in Calicut) in their godowns for Arab merchants. This practice was very common till the seventies. 

People with business interest including Samoothiri-the King made sure that the traders from the Middle East felt at home in Calicut.  They were offered their food, religious necessities and even families. Many of them married from Calicut and the ‘Koya’ community is of this lineage.  Thus Calicut owned up the Arab food. So came Biriyani, Ghee Rice, Samosas (This Samosa is different from the Bengali Samosa)

Post 70s, Arab traders stopped coming to Calicut as the Middle East started becoming the resource hub of the global oil trade. But then Calicut started going to the gulf. Through the already  established trade connections , a lot of people from Malabar crossed the Indian Ocean in search of jobs. Food stuff and food memories still keep coming into Malabar through them.

A very good example to a recent entry into Arab food register of Calicut is the Kuzhi Mandhi.  (Mandhi is literally Biriyani in Arabic and Kuzhi refers to a pit in Malayalam). This dish should be noted as another mile stone in the history of Arab-Malabar connection. As Gulf countries are increasingly implementing nationalization policy (NITAQAT), many keralaites lost their jobs and had to come back to their natives. Next what we saw is, eateries both small and big mushrooming alongside the highways, selling Kuzhi Mandhi as their signature dish. Those people who lost their jobs turned their food memory into either an employment or a business. 

As long as we have people looking outward across the Indian Ocean for opportunities and as long they are let free to do that, the culinary culture will keep evolving and will keep growing richer.  

There are at least four, if not more, Arabian signature restaurants in Calicut which not just serve Arabian dishes, but serve the way it is to be served; the right ambience, the right utensils and even the right seating. The whole ambience is set to be Arabian here. 

Al Baik is a very established name in Calicut. The Light House, which has come up recently has a wonderful setting and has recreated a deserted feel. Cochin Majlis has brought in the Majlis concept, which offers wonderful meeting space. 

The following photographs were taken from Cochin Majlis. (These dishes are not Arabian).

To what appealed to my taste buds, a little advice from this foodie to Cochin Majlis would be to wok really harder on the taste, service, and housekeeping. The bathrooms were really in a bad shape. May be, the bearers need a bit more of motivation to climb those steps up and down through those four floors.

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.