Living and working in conflict countries, or isolated villages in African jungles... definitely doesn't make that activity one of the easiest which, come to think of it, is what is most challenging and therefore interesting!
From India and Nepal to DR Congo and Uganda, through Palestine and Lebanon, I have had the opportunity to experience how different cultures enjoy food, how they prepare it and how it brings people together in a way which, in my opinion is still highly misunderstood and underestimated by conflict resolution experts.
It is the process of creating something that has the power to arouse all our 5 senses, which is what probably has me hooked. To begin the series of Guns, Checkpoints and Pesto, PART I will be dedicated to these senses: Touch, Smell, Taste, Hearing and Sight.
The Sense of Touch
Most Western cultures have completely lost the concept of touching food. Indeed, we hold on to metal instruments to lift the food from our plates to our mouthes, and the process ends there. At a young age, our parents make sure to teach us that touching food is bad and we get punished when, rebellious, we attempt to grab the stuff to lick it off our fingers.
On a moonlit evening in mid-June 2001, (15 days after the massacre of the Nepali Royal Family by the Crown Prince, in a Romeo and Juliette style drama of impossible love and feuding families), I sat on the floor of a mud and brick built kitchen with a family of 3 generations in a small village just outside Kathmandu. The dinner was being served by the grandmother and her daughter, assisted by her two granddaughters. The grandfather had slaughtered a small chicken in honour of my visit. The meal consisted of basmati rice (baht), lentils (dal) and the most tender chicken I have ever eaten in my life, cooked in a curry sauce, with crushed chillies and garlic. The plate now infront of me, legs crossed, sleeves up, all eyes on me to dig in first, I akwardly and with perfect clumsiness, scooped some dal baht in my right hand (the left hand being considered less clean, used for purposes which are outside the realm of the subject of this posting), and brought it all up to my mouth, praying for some divine intervention so it does not fall down onto my lap. The giggles of the children was proof enough of how ridicule their honoured guest must have appeared to them. Once I had chewed and swallowed my first mouthfull of the little food I did manage to salvage, the family took their eyes off me and started eating. With much relief, this gave me an opportunity to practice the art of hand eating, and after multiple attempts, I began to master it. From discomfort and clumsiness, it became pure joy and fun. The synergy that is created between you and the food, when you are using your hands, cannot be explained in words. It can only be experienced.
Green and red lentils, the staple food for most South Asians. Delicious and wonderfully nutritious
Indian Basmati Rice has the most enchanting almost nutty flavour
