The greatest story that was never told – our living story of finding our spicy roots in the US!
S. Ramanujan, The Man Who Knew Infinity, died at a rather young age of 32. His death was partially attributed to the malnutrition he suffered while he was at Cambridge during WW I. During his time in England, he could not find ‘lodgings where good vegetarian food was given.’ This was long before curry houses became prevalent. He complained that he ‘would have suffered much more had it not been for the good milk obtained’ there. He begged in his letters to his friends and family to send ‘some tamarind (seeds being removed) and good coconut oil by postal parcel through cheapest route.’ It was such a desperate food situation that he would resort to making rice and sprinkle it with a few drops of lemon juice and add some salt to concoct a rasam.
In the US, the situation for young Indians was much more bleak in the early 20th century. Before the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, Asian Indian migration to the US was sporadic and minimal. It was estimated that there were fewer than 20,000 Indians in the US in the early sixties. Indian restaurants and grocery stores were hard to find. Indian students, who found themselves in small college towns, were mostly young men and came to the US ill-prepared for cooking for themselves. Very soon, they got married and it was left to their young wives to figure out cooking. It was a daunting task! In an era of costly landline phone bills and no YouTube or social media, these young ladies were left to their own devices to figure out how to make a good curry without curry powders or idlies without fermented batter. But they endured, and they figured it all out. If any of their elaborate weekend dinner parties or the lavish wedding parties are any indication, they conquered their spice battle very decisively.
I often wonder about their experiences. How did they first emulate the fermentation conditions of hot Southern India to ‘raise’ the Idli batter in cold winter conditions? Or how did they make that perfect tandoori chicken in a Dutch oven? How far did they have to go to get some basic Indian groceries? How did they find a good toor dhal to make sambar?
As you probably have gathered, I am very passionate about Indian food, photography, and I also enjoy hearing and telling a good story. I recently created a space for telling such stories on my website. I am planning on documenting stories from different eras with photos to go with them. The main purpose is to provide a forum in the form of a digital archive to share, publicize, and access our own immigrant experiences through our common cultural identity and heritage – our food! The stories can be on anything around food, like a dinner party, or a grocery store, learning to cook, or finding that perfect curry powder!
To start off, I am most interested in hearing from anyone who might have great Indian food stories from the 1960s or before. I can also help in telling the story and/or clean up an old picture. So, please let me know If you or anyone you know might be able to help in this regard. Please also publicize this and share this request on social media to help me find sources. I am all ears, so please drop me a note and wish me luck in this endeavor. Thank you in advance for your help.