The Flavor lies in the country

Day 5 Taste and Study the Cuisine

Last night, I had this amazing dream.  I had this dream where I was transported to India, for some type of photography/writing conference.  The beauty and richness of the colors, the museum, the land, vibrancy of the people and tourists were all in my dream.  I woke up and told my fiancé about this dream, he said it’s because you had Indian food yesterday.  I could not stop laughing how the power and richness of having authentic food can transport your dreams to exotic places.

Today I am eating left over Paneer Tikka Masala, naan, and rice.  Yum, and I am eating it with being mindful of the flavors and tasting everything of the culture in the food.  Ironically when I ate yesterday, I was catching up with a friend, who talked for most of the meal.  She barely ate, and I ate excessively as she spoke, not truly taking it in.  But my unconscious did.

I ate my lunch outside and tried to listen to Indian yoga music (blocking out the table next to me).  Generally when I eat, I need to distract myself with reading things online, a book, or magazine.  But today just tried to be present with my food.  I looked at the richness of the masala and the yellow buttered rice.   I started thinking what does food tells us about culture.  Simply the bursting colors reminded me of the beautiful saris women adorn.  The vibrancy of life that exists, despite the disparity in classes.  I was eating paneer, vegetarian, and the reverence for cows.  Yogananda once discussed how cows provider milk for the earth, and therefore are our secondary mothers and should be treated as such. 

I remembered throughout my travels, I thought of what ingredients said about the country.  What types of vegetables could be grown in that climate?  Is the food drab or have spicy flavor?  What does this all say about the people, their body size, style of clothing?  Does food follow suit?

  I am especially connected to this topic, as my fiancé is a chef.  Food is his life.  Food is a necessity to all lives, but we do not always pay enough attention to it.  When you travel outside your domain, and step towards somewhere exotic.  Let your taste buds follow.  Do not simply critique like or dislike, but taste, think, experience, reflect, and dream.