Sometimes I wonder what it is that draws me to food. I think it's the colour. No, maybe it is the smell or the texture. Perhaps it is the shape. I really don't knoww. But food excites me. Even if it is presented in the worst way or in an artistic manner. I can't stand it if someone misuses a food ingredient eg. throwing of tomatoes or rotten eggs when he is unhappy with a performance. Or giving an orange to a kid to play. It's pure murder to a living thing! It's slow torture.
For me, food ingredients are alive! That's why the rot; they 'perspire' when you tie it up in a plastic bag. It's fascinating to keep a few unripe fruits in a basket and to watch it changing colour every day or even every hour eg. from a green banana to a ripe yellow banana.
About Me
- Chef Devagi Sanmugam
- I am an author of 16 cookbooks, food columnist for several magaziness and known as Spice Queen in Singapore. I have a restaurant SPICE QUEEN and a cooking school and culinary consultancy firm Devagi's Epicurean World Pte Ltd. At the beginning of January 2005, I flew down to India on my own initiative and cooked for over 2000 Tsunami victims daily for 10 days. For more details on what I do currently visit - www.spice-queen.com OR www.epicureanworld.com.sg
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10 comments:
I have never thought of food like that seriously.. I guess it is important for chefs to think that their foods are alive...
Actually I never think of my Computers and editing machines as inanimate objects.. I often talk to them..
Hmmmmm...
Seiyum thozhile dheiyvam...
Yes, Yes. I talk to my fellow well wishers in my kitchen too! Aren't they lovely people? They never argue with you........the most they can do is hiss, creak, purr, etc. And unlike human beings they remain grateful to you forever until old age sinks into them and we have to bury them at the scrapyard. I can't imagine not greeting my stove or thanking him before starting and ending my day in the kitchen. I am sure most of the appliances in my kitchen are male........I know coz they are strong, they don't get jealous and play me out if I need to use 2 or more of the same species, they are rugged and can withstand the abrasive cleansers I use on them to keep their image spotless and glowing.
Hhaaa.. funny.. My equipments are male too.. Maybe for the male chefs and editors, their work partners are female.. I am pretty sure of that..
Finally meeting a lady chef :)
I may sound like a hypocrite - no playing with food but can chop up and chuck into the pot.
OK, this is my logic.
When you are playing with the food, it is still alive. You may bruise it or make it not capable of giving you the maximum nutrients. Food ingredients are 'born' to be selfless. They are there to help us, to make us into strong people. We have to be thankful to them. Like all living beings, there will be a day when it has to 'die'. Either it dies a natural death by rotting and fertilizing earth or it is eaten by us or cooked and eaten. Our stomachs are the burial grounds for all food ingredients. Food ingredients die making us happy.
But we must not torture them before eating. Either you take a sharp knife and make quick cuts and chops and cook it right away to get the best nutrients out ....the way the Chinese do. My grandma used to 'kill'. She used a blunt knife and using a sawing motion, she tortured the vegetables until the fibres were hanging loose. She then dumped these semi-living vegetables into salted water to remove 'micro organism' .....my I am sure the veggies were screaming, asking to be cooked right away. Then she cooks them forever until the vegetables lose their identity.
That's not the right way to treat those kind nice ingredents who so love us enough to sacrifice their lives for our meal.
So dearest friend, to play or to store food forever is a NO NO. But to kill to eat is OK because they must be relieved from this world, to be born again ........to serve us all.
Did you notice that when you walk down a shopping centre picking up the scent of freshly baked bread, coffee at Starbucks, the smell of durian or even popcorns, you will find yourself longing to eat these things. You will feel an appetite for food. I feel that somehow good food and smell seem to be linked to one another.
But then on the other hand this does not necessarily mean that everything that smells good also tastes good right? For example, a rose smells so good, but it does not taste very good. But I guess whether a food product is edible or not is usually determined by its smell. After all burnt or rotten food does not smell very good.
Ahhhhhhh……. It can be confusing. When I go to the market to buy seafood, the place stinks. When I am shelling the prawns or scaling the fish, the smell is not pleasant either. But the seafood taste fantastic after cooking! The smell of durian or some cheeses (like sweaty feet) can kill you but it taste so heavenly.
But then I think whether people think something smell bad is very personal and culture related. Not everybody likes durian or asafoetida. And food that is tasty to some people, may smell terrible to people of another culture.
We have heard of people saying 'you are what you eat'. I think this is so true! Try eating one teaspoon of fenugreek daily for 1 month and your whole body including your head will smell of fish curry! You will smell like what you eat. You may not know what you smell like but those around you who eat food that are different from yours will notice it. That’s why we hear remarks that “she always smell like curry” or “the Caucasian smells of butter and cheese” or the “Punjabis smell of ghee” etc. People who eat a lot of garlic will smell garlicky. So there you are, the next time you meet someone, focus on her smell and guess what she has been eating before she saw you
I am very sensitive to smell. I notice stale foods, strong flavours or even the difference between different brands of flavoured foods. I can notice small changes o flavour and smell in food. But I have met people who never noticed the smell of food.
The smell of petrol and paint can nauseate or kill me on the spot if I don’t move away from the situation. These smells can cause adverse reaction in my body eg. give me a terrible headache or cause me to vomit. My friends and relatives think I am overly fussy. It’s very difficult not to notice smells. What do you think?
i can't believe that you guys are using the comment section to chat???
Anyway, yes Devagi, your points are real cool...
Devagi - waiting for your recipes.
i remember when i was young...my mum use to give me papaya to eat and ...i wud eat half of it and when she turns away i'll quickly throw the rest out the window....haha from tis post i've learn the importance of food and how to treat food...tis post really gave me a hard slap.../i was actually planning for a food fight.... after hearing to tis post i've postpone it i mean... nvr gonna haf one...
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