So cool! My Brazilian friend told me about how the Portuguese took Mango and Coconut trees to South America from Goa. She was eating my rice pudding with coconut and mango and exclaimed that it was a sweeter version of a Brazilian dessert!! And of course the ubiquitous Cashew (where would we be would kaju paste for korma or kaju katli?!!) came from South America in exchange. And last, but not least, the quintessential Bengali rosugulla/ rasmalai/chenna etc came from Portugal, since prior to that contact, deliberately curdling milk to make the milk solids was forbidden according to the Vedas.
Most interesting piece, Pallavi. Was reminded of Peru and Chile locking horns over the origin of pisco sour. And sampa, a barley-flour porridge (especially the word for it) connecting American Indians to Ladakhi folk of Mongolian origin. I always wondered which way the tandoor travelled- from India or as an accidental gift from Taimur of Samarkand.
It gets weirder. I'm not sure the "cuppa tea" was "refreshing" in the Chinese or Japanese sense, as much as a means to drink sugar. In Europe, even today, tea and sugar go together in the mass market. So sugar points to slavery.
In 1702, the Antipopery Act in Ireland forbade unigeniture. As families multiplied, plots grew smaller. Only potatoes from Americas could be planted - which was a relatively healthy diet (if one ate the skin). Until the virus came in 1848.
Mole is probably an Indian curry concocted from local ingredients by an Indian nun praying in Mexico 200 years ago.
Not to speak of "Kappeler Michsuppe" in Renaissance Switzerland, where the soldiers from Zurich brought bread and the soldiers from the mountain cantons brought the milk - a precursor of peace-making fondue?
You caught my attention with the title and a chuckle as well! And after reading about all this food, I am absolutely famished!
So cool! My Brazilian friend told me about how the Portuguese took Mango and Coconut trees to South America from Goa. She was eating my rice pudding with coconut and mango and exclaimed that it was a sweeter version of a Brazilian dessert!! And of course the ubiquitous Cashew (where would we be would kaju paste for korma or kaju katli?!!) came from South America in exchange. And last, but not least, the quintessential Bengali rosugulla/ rasmalai/chenna etc came from Portugal, since prior to that contact, deliberately curdling milk to make the milk solids was forbidden according to the Vedas.
Most interesting piece, Pallavi. Was reminded of Peru and Chile locking horns over the origin of pisco sour. And sampa, a barley-flour porridge (especially the word for it) connecting American Indians to Ladakhi folk of Mongolian origin. I always wondered which way the tandoor travelled- from India or as an accidental gift from Taimur of Samarkand.
It gets weirder. I'm not sure the "cuppa tea" was "refreshing" in the Chinese or Japanese sense, as much as a means to drink sugar. In Europe, even today, tea and sugar go together in the mass market. So sugar points to slavery.
In 1702, the Antipopery Act in Ireland forbade unigeniture. As families multiplied, plots grew smaller. Only potatoes from Americas could be planted - which was a relatively healthy diet (if one ate the skin). Until the virus came in 1848.
Mole is probably an Indian curry concocted from local ingredients by an Indian nun praying in Mexico 200 years ago.
Not to speak of "Kappeler Michsuppe" in Renaissance Switzerland, where the soldiers from Zurich brought bread and the soldiers from the mountain cantons brought the milk - a precursor of peace-making fondue?