Honest Food Tales – Masala Herb

Agra, India

Years ago I remember standing, lost but excited, at a junction in north India, Agra. It was a dream or so I thought, it was unreal, as if time had stopped flowing all together. The amount of action in my environment was completely overwhelming and although I had prepared my mind for the cultural shock, I had not thought of the effect that the alien to me, noise, smells and people, would have. The air was thick and filled with countless mixed odours. To identify them all would have been madness, and most probably unnecessary…

Not the Austrian Alps

The people were interesting, there was something about most of them which I did not comprehend at the time. I was intrigued and just so very excited that I couldn’t believe where I was. This was my first trip to Asia and India and the complete opposite of what I was used to see in the Austrian Alps. What my eyes absorbed was beautiful but so very blurry at times. I was set on trying to understand my surrounding and the way it functioned, but as it turned out, the world is more complicated than that.

The first thing a backpack traveller does in India, after having found a room, is to check out eating establishments in the neighbourhood. I was absolutely relaxed and confident that this would not be a problem. In fact it shouldn’t be a problem in a city!

Recommended by Lonely Planet

So, I went for a walk, I thought I would take it easy. I told myself: “No stress, just keep your eyes open. I don’t want to be hit by a rickshaw!” and I was alright. On the way to find some edible food, I met a well travelled guy in his 50s from the French Guinea. He suggested that I should check out a restaurant around the corner. I thanked him, waited for a cow to pass and marched towards the restaurant with a board saying “recommended by Lonely Planet”.

“Yes, Lonely Planet sounds promising!” and so I disappeared inside. The place was smallish and I barely remember two tables. The room was sparingly decorated, but I didn’t expect anything special. The menu was very sparse, it had one dish, Thali!

Thali is a typical Indian platter with various dishes in small bowls. Not very enticing, I like choice but hunger was pressing and leaving me restless. Anyway, what could I lose, right? The place had been mentioned in Lonely Planet! I ordered the Thali, waited 5 minutes and there it was sitting on the table, and I was staring at it. “How am I suppose to eat that now?”

Embarrassed I asked the waiter and he had to giggle like a school child. You have to know, Indian food was completely new to me. “Dal on Rice” he answered. That barely answered my question but I guessed the daal could only be the bowl with the strange orange lentils (I only knew dark lentils back home). Now, the question was why I had a bowl with yogurt and another one with something reddish I couldn’t identify. Also there was another bowl with something that looked like some kind of vegetable in a yellowish oil coat.

I spooned the rice on the plate with the little space I had so that none of the grains could touch any of those bowl sides. I poured the liquid lentil dish over the rice and some of all the other things in the bowl, all the while carefully keeping an eye on the food I was suppose to eat so that it would not touch the bowls.

Stomach was growling, the food was smelling rather bizarre but I told myself: “I am a foodie, I can do this!” I dug in touched some colourful food mixture with my lips and then my tongue and then it was clear, I had a problem!

My head turned red and I couldn’t stop coughing. The food was fiery hot, inedible, or so I thought at the time. My appetite was disappointed but I was starving so I had a few spoonfuls, swallowed hard, continued flushing down with water while taking bites of some strange flat bread that they called roti. I was at my sixth spoonful when I gave up. While I was suffering, the waiter was laughing out loud and he barely got around explaining that I should have some of the yogurt. The yogurt was cooling my throat and what was left of my tongue receptors but I didn’t enjoy the flavour. It was just strange and I was completely food frustrated.

My love for Indian food grows every day

This was my first experience with food, in my life time, that made me feel absolutely food hopeless! I was a foodie wreck in India, food had lost its alluring power and my world view was altered forever.

Luckily in time I learned to adjust and to melt in. To understand and enjoy the food in all its colours and appearances in India. It made me smarter and after all these years I don’t regret the day I thought my love for food had crumbled.

Eight years have passed and my love for Indian food is growing every single day. So, the day you come across a similar food situation in your travels just remember: Food cultures have many faces and if you don’t get along with one at first, don’t give up, give it a chance and you will experience and discover  the most amazing food revelation ever!

Helene D’Souza is an Austrian/French emigrant who married a Goan and who currently lives in the tropical paradise Goa, India. MasalaHerb.com is her recipe, culture and travel website. She is also a contributor to FoodWriterFriday.com.