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Gurnaaz Kaur
Did you know black pepper was once considered equivalent to gold? In fact, it was called black gold. Yes, this was during the ancient era in Tamil. As JW Marriot organises Black Pepper Food Festival to dish out the authentic most flavours of ancient, medieval and contemporary Tamil or rather South Indian cuisine, we also get a glimpse of the history of this king of spices. “Black pepper was once a highly precious commodity. It was traded along the earliest trading routes of India, which is how it spread from India to the world. It is known to have attracted many traders and invaders to India who came with the sole intention of taking back with them this ‘black gold’,” shares executive chef Naveen Handa, and adds, “We have invited food historian Chef Sridevi Balasubramanian, popularly known as Shri Bala, to curate the festival.”
Shri Bala who has been a full-time CA for most of her career, quit the well-paying job for her passion. “I have a keen interest in the evolution of food from pre-historic times to the present day. I’ve done research of Tamil scriptures and the entire menu here has Tamilian dishes covering three eras spanning over 3000 years. Black pepper was first mentioned as a cooking spice in the Sangam literature dating back to 300 BC. This small spice actually has a significant role in shaping the new-age cuisine,” she tells.
The festival is featuring the ancient Indian recipes made from the simplest of ingredients from the pre-historic Sangam era to the more complex contemporary recipes. “These dishes have medicinal value because of the way they are prepared. We’ve used ashwagandha, peepla and other such spices and herb that are beneficial to health,” Bala explains.
A little bit of past
She also educates how each invasion and rule on this country brought about an evolution to the Indian cuisine. “From the Sangam Era, dominated by black pepper which is famed to have brought Christopher Columbus to India, the festival moves ahead in time to explore the medieval era of Tamil cuisine. The cuisine in the medieval era around the 14th century shows significant influence of trade and foreign invaders with the coming of Arabs, Dutch and Portuguese through the sea-route. The chilies and tomatoes were introduced to the country during this time. Since black pepper was the favourite commodity for foreign trade, the price for the spice went up in the local market, which allowed the cheaper red and green chilies from Europe to flood the markets. It was during this time that red curry recipes flourished in South.”
The Mughals, she tells introduced many spices such as cloves, black cardamom, star anise, etc and potatoes are a continental influence to our day-to-day cooking.
This historian says there is no need for medicines if you eat right and make sure your food has all the six tastes— sweet, sour, bitter, heat, salt and astringent. Another word of advice from her is to go local, go seasonal. “Eat geographically as nature knows what your body needs and when. These fads about foreign foods such as olive oil or avocado are really foreign to the body. What is wrong with ghee or mustard oil? They are healthy and indigenous.”
With all the history and knowledge about South Indian food, the festival at JW surely serves a unique confluence of flavours.
gurnaaz@tribunemail.com
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