One of the great things about travelling is meeting people and glimpsing into their lifestyle, opening your mind to new cultures and way of life. If lucky, perhaps you will be be invited into their homes to share a meal or simply enjoy a cup of tea and discuss the world.
It’s amazing how, with a few words in common – and with a lot of sign language and laughter – you can have incredible conversations.
Being rather keen on cooking, I’m naturally drawn to kitchens and cannot help but compare mine with my hosts’. For me, a fridge, freezer, microwave, toaster, sandwich maker, liquidiser, juicer, all the latest in hi-tech gadgets and a super duper oven are absolutely necessary.
We take them for granted and consider them to be the necessities of a modern kitchen. Can you imagine in our hot summers, let alone during the cooler winter months, how on earth we could cope without the fridge?
At the time of writing, I’m sitting in verdant Kerala. A monsoon is falling and, although a little humid, the temperature is very pleasant at around 23˚C.
Chef Aneesh at my hotel – the delightful eco Spice Village in Thekkady, owned by the Cghearth Group, explained that simplicity was the key to cooking in Kerala – a few main ingredients, perhaps some fish, onion, a little tomato. However, the secret was the spices – cardamom, pepper, ginger, turmeric… plus the use of coconut milk and oil.
Many local cooks still prefer using the time-honoured method of burning wood in their open fires for cooking in India. Many are reluctant to upgrade to a modern cooker as the flavour of the food is never as good. Let’s face it, barbecue cooking is always tastier (so long as the cook doesn’t burn the sausages!).
Chef preferred using the old traditional brass cooking pots shaped to maximise even heat distribution and ideal for all types of cooking. Although a thoroughly modern chef, he too said he would rather use the open fire method of cooking if he didn’t have so many guests to cater for, as you can’t beat the taste. Indeed, I had the same reaction last week in Rajasthan, where it was searingly hot – a body-wilting 50˚C. It actually reached 52˚C when I went to visit a local tribe.
During the drought times, the land of Rajasthan is a canvas in shades of ochre, yellow sand and hues of brown. Villages, ablaze with colour, punctuate the starkness, with the women in saris so bright you need to put your sunglasses on to look at them.
I visited a farm belonging to people from the Bishnoi community. Cooking here was very simple, using an open fire fed by dry cow dung and firewood. Utensils were again simple – a few deep metal pots (in Kerala they tend to use clay pots), a flat skillet for chapattis and a few stirring spoons.
Food was mainly rice with a gravy (or curry as we would call it), maybe a few vegetables seasoned with a few spices or some meat. Millet was used for making roti and wheat for chapattis.
I watched the daughter-in-law make the chapattis (she was never named), her head covered by a veil – no wonder – as the smoke rose thick and fast as she cooked. I think the fact that men from outside the family were present was a good excuse for her to cover her face, and, bring a little relief from the clouds of grey enveloping her.
I gather that life was now far easier as they recently had a government water tank installed and – virtually – had water on tap, saving a 10k round walking trip each day. In addition, many households no longer ground their own flour, preferring to buy it ready ground from the village shop, saving hours of back-breaking grinding.
“Women are getting soft,” the grandfather growled. His wife responded with a tart remark – I wonder why no one would translate.
No fridge, freezer, blender, juicer or matching cooking pots were in sight. There were just a few well-worn steel pots, a few spoons – metal and wooden – a flat pan and a small selection of spices graced the shelves by the fire.
They were obviously quite content with their kitchen – next door their son had a ‘real’ cooker but his wife never used it – preferring the taste and flavour of her in-laws’ open fire.