Since....

....I seem to have been spending most of my time over the last few days eating, I thought I'd note down a bit about food.

Apparently 40% of the population of India is malnourished. The Government has a welfare programme where everyone should have access to free rice, but that access depends very much on how the individual states manage the programme within their boundaries. So often it means the rice money gets used elsewhere. At the same time, there is the rising problem of obesity, as seems to be happening all over the world. A ridiculous situation, but one that is obviously so challenging to sort out.

For the priviledged, as I certainly am, there is a multitude of delicious food to eat, and if you're a guest, an obligation to eat your fill and a bit more. There have been weeks at a time where I've not felt hunger.

I've just got back from a new friend's house where her Granny cooked hundreds (give or take a few) of dosas for us for breakfast. I hadn't finished one when the next one was put next to me, stuffed with even more hearty fillings - egg, masala potatoes, chutneys. And each one is the size of a large plate. My tummy has gone into extended-belly mode.

When we were staying in a place called Thekadi, on the edge of Periyar National Park in Kerala, we had a cooking lesson from a very rotund middle-aged man and his various female family members (not sure who was wife, sister, mother, etc.), in their kitchen. I didn't manage to keep up with the recipes, but it was amazing to see the colourful mixes of spices, the grinding of pastes, the shoe-horn type thing that's used to get the nut out of the coco-, and to smell things as they simmered. And we got to (literally) try our hands at making parottas. It was quite a process, but good fun, and we're convinced (much more so than any Indian we've promised to make them for) that we can recreate the greasy delicacy in an Oxford kitchen. Oh, and the pineapple curry - my goodness.

One time, my five fellow comrades and I stopped for a thali lunch at a big eating house, and were all completely full on delicious Keralan rice, curries and daal for the grand total of 40p. Amazing. You are only meant to spend about 40p's worth of time sitting and eating it though. In - wash hands - EAT - sip of warm red-coloured water - wash hands (and chins, arms, etc., for the inexperienced hand-eater) - pay 40p - out. Bam. I think the economies of scale in the production has something to do with it.

Hands eating foods on the train.

For example, at the fourth wedding ceremony of the first wedding, there was a feeding-of-the-800 event. Five tribal priests from local villages came to bless the couple, along with many many people from these villages. And over the period of about 4 hours, everyone was fed a banana leaf lunch. Here's a picture of mine.

It was delicious. And you should have seen the size of the cauldrons food was being cooked in. (Queue: photo of the size of the cauldrons food was being cooked in.)

And I'm finding plenty of sweet things to satisfy my sweet tooth/teeth too. Milky fudgey balls of all different colours, lassis, jalebis, all washed down with a hot cup of intensely sweet milky chai. Yum. I'm working on my Bollywood love handles. (I saw a Bollywood film last night - The Dirty Picture. It was in-ter-esting (as much as I could understand it in Hindi)!)

Alcohol is not legal in many places, but in some of these places it's served to you inconspicuously in mugs, or tea pots, or something that the local law-enforcers are able to turn a blind eye to. And the beers are strong - 6-8% and labelled names like "10000" and "Super Strength"! It tasted pretty super to me.

I'd best go now and do some work before we go off for lunch.