Mervyn I agree with you that once upon a time the cook of a Goan meal could always decide what flesh s/he would use to deliver his/her special blend of spices. The flesh, is only of secondary importance. ?
This is evident in the preparation of the Peasant Dish from Portugal upgraded to our Goan King Dish Sorpotel, served at all the important times of our lives such as weddings, feasts, etc. I have to ask what does this make us amongst everyone else. As you are aware, Sorpotel is made from the left overs of an animal, boiled, cut into small pieces, fried and then blended with spices, laced with blood and feni to make it palatable and aromatic. There are also other recipes for left over meat from an animal such as booch, trotters, brain, etc. which are family favourites and clearly point to the direction that most if not all the food we ate in the olden days came from parts of the animal the nobility did not want to eat hence was given to us. This explains your remark “the flesh is only of secondary importance”, as one could not be sure what meat the nobility sought to give away, equivalent to crumbs off the dinner table. Niz Goenkars will know the difference between xacuti xacuti and xacuti made with meat destined for the dog table. The young people today weaned on chicken and chips, burgers, kebabs yearning for Goan food will not know the difference. I do not have statistics of the mortality rate of our community in past times and this I am sure would be interesting to find out for our medical practitioners. In England the school of thought is that if we have a healthy population then a healthy economy can be expected. You can today expect to live over 80 years old if one takes due care and attention to lifestyle. In the early 1970s in most English towns the distance to Indian Restaurants could be measured from vomit on the roadside. Today this is quite an isolated incident as Curry is England’s no 1 dish and The British Medical Association says that a curry a week is good it does not include beer that makes Fridays “Golden Night” after a hard weeks work people tend to go for a beer followed by a curry. Never drink on an empty stomach.The social structure is such that there is also clubbing every night. Click to see “Bollywood Burner” may be of interest to vegetarians http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/people-who-regularly-eat-spicy-food-have-lower-mortality-rate-than-those-who-dont-10437941.html Committees that organise Niz Goenkar Village events around the world have a battle to ensure their patrons are not short changed by caterers, beverages, music to promote Goan ambience and value for money for family and friends garnish all the ingredients for a good Goan Party. Perhaps Royale from Swindon was trying to emulate the Goan Chef of 500 years ago to boost the business GOA Welfare Charity (so many) one of which you can join for a pound, get a wooden overcoat and private escort to Goa warm soil as the ground in England is cold and the Goa Church diary is unable to allocate your plot in advance there are always appeals for funerals. After 50 years we are still unable to speak with one voice, as nobody cares and have better things to do rather than doing things better, the infection in our wounds is getting worse. The cockroach and self-enrichment appears to be developing in our community as with all the education are still employees within limited vacancies. Goan Food is unique and I doubt what was destined for the Goan Festival 2015(SCOGO R.I.P.) would never get a Michelin star or even made it to Roland Francis collection of Goan Recipes. Best regards. Melvyn Fernandes Thornton Heath, Surrey, United Kingdom 5 August 2015
