My Life Revolves Around Food (Part Two: A Sad Tale)
on From Banglatown to Bangladesh (Bangladesh), 20/Jun/2009 13:07, 34 days ago
There is one final tale in today’s outpouring of food-related routines and obsessions, separated for its sadness, as much as its distinctiveness. Here in Bangladesh, far away from the glut of supermarkets, markets, delicatessans, bakeries, restaurants and cafes of the UK, I do quite regularly have cravings for the numerous items and tastes of home that are not on offer here. With this in mind, my dear parents, during their visit several months ago, brought me an incredible mix of treats for the Desh (with balsamic vinegar, chocolate, tahini and white wine just a few of the rather random items). Particularly special werethree bread mixes, enabling me to make exactly three real, crusty, chewy bread loaves right here in my own Deshi home. Yesterday, after a stressful week at work, I had the fantastic idea of using the second of the precious bread mixes, which had – until now - been carefully rationed. Excited atthis little taste of English comforts, I opened the packet, poured out the flour... and found the wheat goodness joined by hundreds of crawling black insects, which somehow managed to invade the mix, without a) the packet being open or b) the packet having any holes in it. I then opened the next and final packet, the particularly special 'Sundried Tomato and Parmesan Ciabatta' mix, and found the same. At which point I proceeded to utter several expletives, which there are no need to repeat here.Now, you may or may not be able to identify with my sadness at this situation. If you can, don’t worry: following the swearing I burst out laughing, shaking my head at the ridiculousness of being in a context in which previously normal things become oh-so-very special, and at how almost everything seems to get infected, mouldy, rotten, or otherwise destroyed here at some point or another.Except those damn insects. I did give brief thought to advice given to me when I was a child by my Grandmother, who spent decades in the Nigerian jungles: if you put said insect-infected substance into the oven, the insects will die, making it easy for you to pick them out from the otherwise goodfoodstuff. Needless to say, I decided against this particular strategy, questioning the feasibility of baking flour more than the waste-not, want-not philosophy behind it.So, my life may revolve around food, but my Parmesan and Sundried Tomato Ciabatta is now but a dream. With this in mind, I will end with a plea: think of me the next time you wolf down your sandwiches, spare a moment’s thought for my lost bread mixes, and take the time to appreciate that savoury bready goodness slipping down your throat. A girl in the Desh is thinking about it.