A postscript - the view from India

"an 'elsewhereness' that is aspirational but not imitative."

Sharanya Deepak/Vittles

When looking for ideas for today I found a reference to a Vittles Magazine article by Sharanya Deepak - A brown people's version of white people's lives - it's long but worth reading if you are at all interested in the fusion of cuisines in general, and the fusion of South Asian and Italian cuisines in particular. She is Indian and so writes from the inside as it were and quite puts to shame my now very perfunctory looking post of yesterday.

So I'm just referencing a few of the things that she said - beginning with just one example of what the peoples of the sub-continent are doing with Italian ideas - the above - Penne pizza sticks - which are apparently hugely popular in Pakistan. Thread some cooked penne on to bamboo sticks, top with standard pizza topping stuff and grill. The Italians would be appalled.

As I said yesterday the Italians are very protective of their cuisine which has spread throughout the world - with regional variations. "These days more than ever, the Italian public believe that the world is hell-bent on destroying Italy’s cuisine" Deepak says, but really they should be flattered says Alex Sanchez an American born Mumbai chef and restaurateur:

"There is cuisine, and then there is cooking ... When it comes to cooking, 'correct' is not a useful conversation. In a way, Indian-Italian cooking is a huge compliment to Italian cuisine."

Well they do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Not that the Indians imitate Italian cuisine. They have adapted it to their own tastes as Deepak quotes another restaurateur, Amrut Mehta, as saying:

"Mehta also tells me that while Europeans like simple, one-dimensional flavours (others I speak to are less diplomatic, calling this preference ‘bland’), ‘Indians like spices. As a business, we need to keep that in mind'"

For, as she says:

"This is a world where nobody seems to care about European scrutiny, where any culture of the West is mere flourish to adapt for maximum entertainment."

And here let me add my own thoughts. There are standardised myths about the different nationalities of the world and in many ways the Italians and the Indians have a similar kind of larger than life, family is important, fun loving culture, that I touched upon yesterday. When we think of India I'm willing to guess that words that spring to mind, are colourful, loud, lively, crowded, inventive and resourceful - as well as the negatives of massive poverty and too many people.

They have created a most wonderful cuisine out of scarcity and basic ingredients. So it's small wonder that they took an equally wonderful and colourful, if simpler cuisine to heart and made it their own.

"One common theme unites the Italian dishes that have become popular in the subcontinent: each has some element that feels familiar to South Asian diners. ... there is a heartiness to Italian cuisine ... the tomato-garlic-oil combo feels very similar to karahi gosht, which could be Pakistan’s national dish."

Which is shown here.

She also suggested that Italian food was an excuse to eat cheese. Which I confess I don't quite understand because they do eat paneer.

She has quite a lengthy explanation of how Italian food came to India, beginning with this statement - made by others in my yesterday post:

"The origins of Italian food in South Asia are unclear, but most people I speak to say the same thing: Desi Italian is less inspired by Italian cuisine than it is by its twisted American counterpart."

However it came to be and whoever the major players were - fashionable restaurants and hotels were one place where the changes began - by the 1970s dry pasta was being imported into India and is now made there - sometimes with traditional Indian grains instead of semolina and wheat flour. And now Italian food is everywhere, including in every home - where dishes such as this Pasta sundal (Rak's Kitchen) are created.

There is also an everyday sauce called Pink sauce:

"There is ‘red sauce’, made with tomatoes and spices (mostly described as ‘rich’ and ‘tangy’); ‘white sauce’, made with cheese, cream and flour (generally referred to as ‘creamy’ or ‘melty’); and pink sauce – the best of both worlds." Sharanya Deepak

Having read this article I see that Indian/Italian is a much bigger thing than I realised. I also think that is definitely rather an Indianisation of Italian food than an Italianisation of Indian food. The Italians are much too attached to their own cuisine. Unlike the British who fell in love with Indian food, took it home, and adapated it to their more conservative tastes. Made it more bland? Although I suspect that this is no longer the case because of the very large South Asian diaspora now living there. And Anglo-Indian cuisine definitely has its own distinctive dishes.

Finally - just to confirm the ubiquity of the Indian/Italian trend the new July edition of the the Coles Magazine which has a global food theme has these two examples - both actually adverts - the first for their own new hot roast butter chicken, which in itself is not a fusion thing, but the quote on the page illustrating the dish tells us that we can "Pair the chicken with rice and naan, or shred for pizza topping" - so commonplace that later in the magazine in their promotional section in which various suppliers advertise their wares we have Smashed tandoori chicken naan - which is really a kind of pizza

Ordinary everyday things, presented in expensive cookbook manner and taking advantage of a trend.

I think the Indians win hands down over the Italians for ingenuity, although the Italians should also take a bow for having such and inspiring cuisine for the whole world to enjoy in their own way.

YEARS GONE BY

July 4

2025 - Travel changes you

2024 - Nothing

2023 - "Remove the skin and seeds from the peppers"

2022 - The 4th of July - hamburgers

2021 - Missing

2020 - Missing

2019 - Goji berries

2018 - Cooking with peppercorns

2017 - On holiday