When I set off to graduate school in the US, the Internet had not yet taken over the world. I actually spoke to people to gather information about life in America in general and my destination, New Orleans, in particular. So, I was delighted to find a woman whose son [...]
At MIT, dine like a 14th-century nobleman For over a decade, during the Independent Activities Period between semesters, MIT has offered a non-credit class on “old food’’ from the region around the Mediterranean Sea. The idea came from conversations history department chair Anne McCants, who teaches the class, had with a colleague about how little their students [...]
When I was a harried graduate student, I barely noticed the people at the cafe. I would pay for my fuel with small change and leave with a to-go cup filled to the brim. But now that I spend time there, one thing is apparent: Every morning, the baristas (the [...]
Around mid-January, people in South India celebrate Pongal, the harvest festival. Unlike Halloween or Christmas, Hindu holidays don’t fall on the same date each year. My mother consults an almanac to keep track of festivities. Since I can’t read that flimsy paperback, she just tells me about upcoming holidays. And [...]
What’s that smell? “Eat no onions or garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath,” a Shakespearean character entreats actors in the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Alliums are aromatics, eaten precisely for their smelly qualities. But what if you’re forbidden onions and garlic for life? Some vegetarians in India are required, for religious [...]
Chef Praveen Anand of Dakshin Praveen Anand is a Chennai-based chef trained in western cooking. Today, his passion is authentic South Indian food. His embrace of the traditional is significant in a nation that has quietly begun discarding some of its food customs. In his two-decade long career, he has researched foods of various communities [...]