Say the words “exotic food” and I get hit with colours. Colours in terms of South Asian, Moroccan, Caribbean, Thai dishes. Colours in terms of lots of spices and topical fruits such as papaya, guava, mango, pineapple, custard apple, lychees, and of course, the quintessential green coconut. I also get recurring visions of powdery white, golden and pink sands, blue-green water and lots and lots of tropical flowers. I’m quite sure I am not the only one. I was born and lived for the first 12 years of my life in a South Asian country called Bangladesh. I was born in the land of bright colours, the land of mouth-watering, spicy, flavourful food, delicous fruits and intoxicatingly fragrant flowers, thanks to heavy Monsoon rains (also the cause of natural disasters) and extremely rich, fertile soil. What is considered “exotic” in this part of the world (the West), is the way of life in many other parts of the world, including Bangladesh. Case in point: coconut and coconut oil is all the rage right now and is being labelled as “super food” over here, but for thousands of years, coconut and coconut oil have been an essential part of the South Asian diet, and coconut oil has been the ultimate haircare products for women! What is considered “exotic” to many up here is not “exotic” to me at all. Or at least shouldn’t be. But it is. I am in Canada! Above mentioned things are not native to here. In Bangladesh, my childhood was spent in a home which had coconut, mango, jackfruit, papaya, guava, star fruit, banana, and many other trees and plants on its property. Right in the middle of the bustling metropolis, the capital city of Dhaka. We hardly ever bought fruit from the stores. Fast forward about 20 years. I got excited to see papayas on sale for $1.99 at the local FreshCo supermarket this morning. I got so excited I bought TWO. Epic sigh.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 15:41:25 +0000
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