• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Food for Thought A Life in Four Courses TRANSCRIPT OF PODCAST EPISODE 9: Bimal Giri Bimal Giri was born in Bhutan and grew up in Nepal. In this episode he talks to us about celebrations, festivals and the traditional foods of his homeland. Bimal: I‘m Bimal Giri, I’m 47. I was born in Bhutan, brought up in Nepal and currently living in Edinburgh, Scotland. My cultural, em, we are Hindu, mainly, mainly agricultural country where we source most of our foods from what we grow, and food is, em, one of the important, em, things that we consider. We consider food is a gift of God, or reward. We have to take it in a very peaceful manner, and the food has to be very, aah, nutritious, healthy. So it is in our top priority. Nepal is a small country, just twice the size of Scotland. But it is very much diverse. Em, our country is surrounded by Tibet and India, so we source food from these both countries and it influences our cuisine. So if we say, if we go to south part our cuisines are very much influenced by the Indian dishes like curries and chapattis and parathas kind of things, but if you go to north part it is pretty much like a Tibet or Chinese like momo, the steamed dumplings or some pasta or noodles. So it varies, but again the rich or well off people has, they tend to eat more, kind of, meat and dairy product. Whereas, ah, the other class who cannot afford those, they just live with vegetables, ah, rice and their main staple diet is the dal bhat which consist of rice, lentil and vegetables twice a day, and that’s the food they eat. In between, as in the snacks like, they eat anything like corn, millet or anything like things. So yes it varies, based on the economic conditions of the individual. In in Nepal, or in my families, em, we eat mainly vegetables. So part of our main will be mainly vegetables, lentils, rice. Ah, maybe once or twice, or even once a month, we eat meat like the chicken or goat. We don’t eat beef at all, because in Hindu we don’t eat beef and we don’t go near beef meat. We eat, ah, dairy products. Now, people in the lowland, which is about maybe hundred metres from the sea level, which is hot and humid during summer, they tend not to eat too much meat, they rather go for vegetables and people who can afford they can go for dairy product. Em, and we,we tend to eat more kind of dairy products like yoghurt and, em, not butter, but like yoghurt and, em, milk. But in the North part of Nepal, which is cold, people eat potatoes is their staple diet, potatoes and meat, if they can afford. Otherwise just the potatoes and corn and any vegetables they get. Em, so in my family we cook main meals, special meals during, like when we have a guest, or when we have any anniversaries or birthday, we get a lot of dairy product like rice puddings, meat, yoghurt, salads, beans, em beans, seven eight kind of beans, and fruits and salads are a very important part of our meal. Otherwise it’s pretty much simple. Thomas (Interviewer): Can you tell me about food traditions around a particular life event? Bimal: Let’s start from, for example, when we are in bereavement or if somebody die in the family. We don’t eat salt at all for 13 days. So basically, we eat once a day, just rice, ginger, butter, em, and fruits and 1 hot water with a little bit of sugar. That’s all for 13 days. So basically, no oil, no spices, it’s very pure and believe that it detox your body and cleans your mind, when you are in bereavement period. This is, kind of, um eh, physical and mental, is stress not having what we used to eat. So that way you forget all the bereavement, because of that hardship. In our wedding, we tend to eat sweets and lots of meats. Varieties of meats, rice, mainly rice. In our festival, major festivals of Hindus are Dussehra and Diwali. In both, ah, festivals, we cook a kind of bread made from rice and rice and coconuts, em, it looks like a ring dough. Quite popular which you cannot buy anywhere else, or that we don’t eat other than these two festivals. And we also have a number of festivals, um, where we eat a lot of vegetables, like, we call it, Janai Purnima is one festival falls around July-August. Em, we eat nine kinds of beans, we make a soup of nine kind of beans, and we season with homemade butter. It is, said that is a very nutritious and it keeps you away from cold. Because it is a very agricultural country, people work almost two months in the rainy seasons, in ah rice plantations. So, by then, they finished their work, and they been working in the rain for a long time, so just to avoid em, from the cold, you know, this nutritious food helps. We have, em, I still remember there is, em, an event or festivals in January, sometime in January, we call it Maghe Sankranti. On that particular day we have to go to a river in first thing in the morning. So January meant to be very very cold, em, even though it is cold we have to go to river and take a bath. After that we eat, we call it chaku. Chaku is a concentrated sugar cane dough. So it’s basically its, it’s extremely sweet. But we top with the sesame seeds, and varieties of yam, or anything that grows under the ground. We eat that. So I, I find that it’s really, really helpful, um, for you to maintain your body temperature when you eat that sweets, and yam. You need a huge courage to go to river first thing in the morning, in January. So I still remember and I like that, em, festival, because it’s different from any other festivals that we have, because all the festivals, we cook food, all the families come together, there is not much hard work. But this particular Maghe Sankranti is, em, you have to go to river and take a shower, so there is no cold, sorry, warm water. It is freezing cold, but you have to do it. And in in, quite interesting that all the elderlies tells us that if we don’t take that shower, we turn into goat. So for that reason we had to go. Dussehra and Diwali, these events, has a significant meanings, em, for Hindus and Buddhists. So I think it is pretty much like Christmas and New Year here. The attraction of these festivals is that you get to meet your old friends and forgotten family members on this particular day. So I doubt it, this won’t be faded. But maybe the way we celebrate, em, coming generations might not know how we celebrate; it might take a different shape. But still if this if this festivals will still be celebrated. For example in Diwali, no one forget to put the candles there, that you have to have the candles, you have to have we call it the sel roti which is, eh eh, a bread made from rice. In Dussehra goat meat. You might not get a goat meat here, but in London people celebrate the Diwali and the Ghurkas they eat goat on that particular day and obviously wine or spirits. It’s a fun, it’s a really important. It brings everyone together, em, within the family and friends; singing, dancing, eating drinking. So it has, ah em, significant, it is quite important in our social life, so that won’t fade away. But there are other festivals, as I said, we have other minor festivals, em, some parts they celebrate in a great deal. We have another festival, ah, falls in sometime in August. Em, on that particular day, if you have any skin disease, at night you have to have a bone fire, bone fire, and you have shout “take my skin disease away”, eh, you know. And people think that that works. They have chosen one day, we call it Saune Sankranti. On that particular day we eat goat meat and have a bonfire. So basically these kind of festivals might not exist maybe in maybe 50 years or so. But here we cannot celebrate that because you can’t have a bonfire in the park. So, it is all subject to your local conditions where you live. If I go back to Nepal, if I am going to be there on that particular date I would love to have a bonfire and shout, like “give me fresh skin” kind of thing, now this is the way. So, yeah, I think Dussehra and Diwali will still, eh, exist, but the way we celebrate might change. This episode was produced by Emma-Jane Harrington and Ciarán Earls. Interview was carried out by and transcribed by Thomas Stewart Food for Thought is brought to you by MECOPP and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. 2 .

Load more

  2

Copy Link