One of my favourite channels on television is Discovery’s Travel and Living.Was surfing the other day and stumbled upon Floyd Week, a food show anchored by none other than Keith Floyd that mad chef who concocted local delicacies at exotic locations around the world, sipped wine every step of the way and added quite a bit of it to his food as well, in that wonderful show called Far Flung Floyd, one of my all-time favourite food shows, which used to be telecast on BBC.
The man seems to have aged and mellowed down a wee bit, however his sense joie de vivre is rather infectious and the humour hasn’t died down either.
This time the destination was none other than my hometown…Goa.
I was quite delighted to see his take on Goan cuisine, and in fact learnt how easy it is to whip up rechado masala, vindaloo and some sort of green masala that made chicken seem more appetising that ever. I think it was chicken cafreal.
He touched upon Portugeuse influences on Goan cuisine and how they introduced the local chilli which is hot as hell, why vindaloo is called so (vin for wine which is used to make the local pungent vinegar and aloo is potato, which is supposed to be used along with other vegetables in any vindaloo preparation) and more tidbits.
His first make-shift kitchen was set up at Betim besides the local fish market. There were woks, little prep bowls made of the leaves of some local plant (I foget the name) and ladles make of coconut shells (used in most ancestral homes).
A crowd of fishermongers and other locals gathered around him looking on with intrigue and curiosity, as if a magic spell was going to unfold any moment.
Floyd said something to the effect of ” I am doing exactly what they do at home everyday at home, and yet this immense interest because I am a foreigner”.
Next he walked through a couple of plantations and talked about local spices like curry leaves and ginger and stumbled upon this chap who was making fenny. Then we got to know all about the cashew fruit and why the seed is so damn expensive – one seed to every fruit is not a good ratio.
Anyways, my dear Floyd is touring India, so am looking forward to more food into at his next destination.
A real gastronomical tour of India starting from your hometown… how awesome! I bet he’d get a lot of takers if he arranged a bus tour to follow him from place to place trying the local flavors.
And where is he going to cook next?
I think there is something always fascinating about a foreigner commenting on local food and culture. Even though we are in the US, we often end up watching a show on TV we’ve never heard of simply because its either set in India (for that episode) or comments on something Indian.
I think he is off to Chennai next…