TWO MINUTE REVIEW: Potpourri, mostly of the past... and good food THE GOOD THING about Goa (there are a lot of things one doesn't like) is that the place is the fountainhead of seemingly boundless talent. Even if the best and the brightest have long migrated, you could always come across a Goan who you didn't know existed, at some remote part of the planet, doing all sorts of amazing things....
Not just that, the talented Goans are doing a home-coming all the time. If not, they're at least passing through. Maybe Goa's early role as a meeting point of cultures (way back in the 16th century, when civilizations were largely ignorant of each other) helped this to happen. Maybe large-scale migration (both out-migration, and in-migration too... though most readers prefer to see these in different light) helped to enrich the place and the people. Whatever the reasons, such a reality today helps a writer to stay in business; and also to write pompous-sounding reviews which are, at least in part, justified by the quaint subjects being handled. Anibal da Costa is one of such personalities. Born in Goa, educated at the Lyceum, shifted to Munich and did his PhD in Economics. For his book, a portrait: "Aside from being an executive consultant, his diverse careers include farming in Brazil; working and writing articles for various international organizations while in Belgium; starting international trading firms in Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Florida; and while in the Philippines, having worked as senior economic adviser to the embassy of Peru." "In the 1980s, he spent several years in Goa, restoring ancient houses and fulfilling a lifelong dream -- running his garden restaurant Le Bougainville," for those who came in late. (Like this reviewer.) He now lives in Manila with his wife, a Dutch diplomat, and their five children. Don't ask who published this book or where it would be avilable; there isn't a clue. Maybe some of those thanked in the writer's acknowledgement, like Percival Noronha, might know. Incidentally Anibal is the son of Aleixo Manuel da Costa, if one recalls right, the knowledgeable Curator of Goa's main library in another age. His book 'A Goan Potpourri' (1999) is set in the expat-oriented, 'old world' Goa of the past. It has fifty pages of reminisces, set in the mid twentieth century, as do most memories of long-time expats from Goa... frozen in time. (Coping with the rapid change taking place in Goa since has posed tough problems for this generation; but this is not to argue that their viewpoint is not a reality, as valid as any other on Goa and Goans, though probably needing urgent updating in a changed context.) >From Page 51 to 186, it's filled with recipes of Goan and international food -- all neatly classified into soups, salads, entries, veg cooking, fish and seafood, poultry, meats, curries, rice, sauces, cocktails, deserts, etc. This writer is too ill-qualified to comment on the quality of the recipes, so let's leave that out. Interestingly, the author says was born because of the "enthusiastic response" to his first one, called 'Anibal's Cookbook'. There are a number of as-usually quaint illustrations and cartoons by Mario de Miranda. This book even contains a message by the former Philippines president Fidel Ramos. "Now, Dr da Costa has finally found the time to document the savory -- and amusing -- memories from his younger years as well as the best recipes he has discovered during his travels (across the globe) so that these can be shared with a larger audience," comments Ramos. There are a whole lot of "lively characters" of Goa of the 1950s and thereabouts described in this book. Maybe others of another generation might be able to identify those described as "Luis Gudu", "Berta Papord", "Doctor L", "Dr Kui" (we hear of him on some Goan mailing lists) and so on. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A GOAN POTPOURRI: By Anibal da Costa. Pp 183. Self published? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Help support non-commercial projects in Goa by advertizing!! * * * * Your ad here !!
