My blog has been quiet for a while now, since I’ve been busy elsewhere.To those of you have messaged me over this time to ask for updates, or appreciating what’s already on here – a big THANK YOU, for your support and appreciation!
Well, let’s get back to work with a post that has been awaiting the light of day for years.
A serendipitous tale of two cities
Mercara (Madikeri): a gift to myself
Sometime in the late 1990s, I happened to be browsing in a gift shop attached to the Hotel Coorg International in Mercara. (Technically speaking, Mercara is a town, not a city. But I claim a little artistic licence here!)
Displayed amongst the table linen, fancy stationery, and bric-a-brac, was a small selection of paperbacks. One caught my eye as looking rather like a school textbook. Curious, I picked it up, and at first glance, it did indeed seem to be something of an academic tome, “Indian Food, A Historical Companion by K.T.Achaya”.
More curious, I began leafing through, my spidey senses tingling. Almost immediately I was immersed, and that, was my first encounter with some of the incredible research on the culinary history of India and South Asia by Dr Konganda Thammu Achaya.
The book has been my culinary companion ever since, travelling across continents with me, and has been an endless source of fascinating insights and cues to further research and discovery. As the growth of the internet fuelled the exploration of cuisines and foodways, I came across more and more people looking for information on Indian subjects, and I was happy to direct them to Dr Achaya’s book.
Here was a substantive work on the foodways of the subcontinent, with a depth of historical context and references, an academic’s delight, yet readily accessible to the average reader.
Houston: a problem solved
Sometime in the early 2000s, my online culinary browsings led me to stumble upon a (pre-publication) preview of a volume titled “Culinary Biographies”, described as a “dictionary of the world’s great – historic chefs, cookbook authors, farmers, nutritionists, philosophers, scientists, writers and others – who influenced the way the world eats today”. Imagine my delight in finding Dr Achaya’s name among these historic personalities!
Well, I just had to get a copy of this book! Problem was, it wasn’t published yet, so I waited patiently. There were some delays, but corresponding with the lovely Alice Arndt, editor and initiator of this fascinating compendium turned up another serendipitous moment. My husband just happened to be travelling frequently to Houston at the time, and that’s where Ms Arndt was based. So, when the book was finally released, I got a copy, hot off the press! 🙂
It was a uniquely gratifying moment to open the volume and to see Dr Achaya’s name (among a handful of Indian entries) and to read something more about an extraordinarily gifted and accomplished individual. My lingering regret will be that I didn’t get to meet him in person. Dr Achaya passed away in 2003, but he leaves a lasting legacy through his pioneering works.
More in part 2, coming up!