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A Taste of Indian Festivals
| Article
# : |
10741 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1986 |
1,651 Words |
| Author
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Alexandra Greeley
Alexandra Greeley was food editor of the South China Morning
Post, Hong Kong, and staff writer for the Time-Life cooking
series "Great Meals in Minutes." |
"To be Indian," says Julie Sahni, noted chef, author and teacher, "is to celebrate and ardently observe festivals. that is our way of life." Whether the celebrant is Hindu, Moslem, Christian, or Jain, wealthy or poor, the day and its events will be glittering, exuberant, and most certainly memorable: boisterous, happy crowds, joyous gatherings of family and friends, and ancient--often vivid--rituals.
No matter how local or minor, no festival is complete without its special foods. Regarded with awe even in the course of daily life, food assumes almost mystic qualities during an Indian festival, and the generous offering of food to family and friends (and possibly deities and animals as well) is universal. "Festival foods," observes Ms. Sahni, "keep the wheel of life going for the average person"
To Americans who observe few feast days, such preoccupation with food may seem puzzling. To introduce Americans to, and delight them with, Indian foods (and perhaps to demystify some native customs, too) has become Julie Sahni's vocation, hobby, or as she says, mission. "If Americans can only understand India and its foods, they will love India as passionately as I do," she says.
Truly, few Indians are as dedicated to this task, or as qualified for the required culinary guidance. A diminutive lady with Moghul-art charm, Julie Sahni, a resident of New York, abandoned two careers--as a classic dancer and a city planner--to cook, to teach, and to write.
In her husky voice, she describes her North Indian childhood in New Delhi; her hybrid culinary background a mingling of several cultures: from North Afghanistan borders to Southern Iran to the strict vegetarian Brahmins of New Delhi along the Ganges; her training and guidance by the family cook Maharajin; her scholarly approach to her native cuisine; her small classes begin in a tiny city apartment; and the writing of her first cookbook, Classic Indian Cooking, hailed by all food lovers as the definitive text on Indian cuisine. Now acknowledged by many as the Julia Child of Indian cooking, Ms. Sahni has been appointed as the executive chef for the two Nirvana restaurants in Manhattan, writes copiously for food magazines and has completed a second volume on Indian cooking, this one dedicated strictly to the vegetarian marvels of her land. How does she feel about this acclaim? "I feel privileged to have so many chances to talk about Indian food," she says.
Although she has spent nearly two
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