Husna Rahman, who has penned a book of recipes on Kutchi Memon cuisine, writes how their food is not only rich and delicious but also nutritious with spices having healing properties
In Islam, alcoholic beverages — or any intoxicant — is forbidden. However, some mavericks would argue that it is the inebriation caused by the alcohol that is forbidden and not the alcohol itself. Their contention is that at no given time is it prohibited unequivocally in the Holy Book. References are made several times to the effect that one must not pray in an inebriated state and that while alcohol has some good and some evil, the evil greatly outweighs the good.
However, the Muslim world perceives the references as a strict and complete prohibition. We as a community uphold this ideal mostly with teeth-baring growls and always with icy, eye-popping indignation.
The Holy Book also states, ‘Man fills no vessel worse than his stomach. It is sufficient for the son of Adam to have a few mouthfuls to give him the strength he needs, if he has to fill his stomach, let a third be for water, a third for food and a third for air’.
The reason for this is that food when consumed in a larger proportion than specified also intoxicates. We discuss this aspect as a community less frequently, viewing it with nodding heads and contemplative gazes as only a well-meaning suggestion.
The truth is, as a certain maverick once said, ‘We are intoxicated everytime we eat!’ No alcohol can repeatedly and effectively circumvent liver damage while providing heightened relaxation and mood alteration like biryani can. We have as a creed cracked the commandment with reference to permissible intoxication. Not only have we found the back door, we have created in the backyard a virtual Garden of Eden. Adam would gladly forsake the apple for a taste of Nani Ma ka roast, especially if Eve could enroll for classes thereafter.
We are indeed slaves to our bellies. The worthy philosophy of ‘Simple living and high thinking’ is somewhat distorted after the second helping of biryani when the mind says ‘lie motionless as a beast with glazed eye and paralysed thought.’ Or after the third helping of the aloo gosht ka korma, which says ‘Smile fixedly at your foe for he be your friend, now know’. Or after the first helping of hara masala, which says ‘Paradise is the pleasure that you and you alone shalst know’, or the lick of the khatta salan that says ‘In my power you shall stay, forsake the world and more of my taste: or the teen masala gosht, which says ‘Go forth and face the world bold and brave, to me you shall return to wash your woes away; or the haleem that promises ‘An unwell body I shall implore, a fevered mind I shall restore.’ We are, as a tribe, meant to look upon this life as a fleeting whisper of creation awaiting the transition to the other side where we shall embrace the doors of paradise. Meanwhile, while we wait, everyday begs the question, ‘What shall we eat todayIJ’