Indian Jews live a very secretive life: Esther David on writing a book on Indian Jews’ recipes ‘Bene Appetit’ – Times of India
In a candid chat, Sahitya Akademi winner Esther David discussed her latest book ‘Bene Appetit’, what it means to be an Indian Jew, the idea of home and cross-cultural identity, her favourite books and authors, and more with us. Excerpts from the exclusive interview:
1. What inspired you to write ‘Bene Appetit’?
Writing this book happened by chance. While researching for all my fiction books based on Jewish themes, I came to the conclusion that Indian Jews’ cuisine is least known to people. Jews came to India when they were fleeing persecution in Israel and other countries; as they began living in India their traditional cuisines were influenced by India. The main base of Jewish food is the dietary laws. For instance: they say ‘Thou shall not cook the lamb in its mother’s milk’, and so we cannot use dairy products with non-vegetarian food items. Vegetarian and non-vegetarian food have to be kept separately. To maintain this, Indian Jews discovered coconut milk which I thought was very fascinating. There are five Jewish communities in India and I’ve written about some of their popular recipes in my book ‘Bene Appetit’. These dishes are cooked on special festivals, as each festival has a definite food item associated with it. The festivals are based on an event from the Bible which took place and so it’s more than 5800 years of Jewish history.
Also, I realised that Western Jewish food is more popular in the world because of cinema and TV series. Their Jewish food is different (from ours) which people know of, like the Challah bread or plaited bread but people don’t know that Indian Jews also follow similar traditions and how! For instance, except for the Kolkata Jewish community which has a Jewish bakery, the plaited bread wasn’t available in India and we didn’t know how to bake it. We didn’t even know that we needed to have Challah bread (since we can’t have leavened flour)! Instead Indian Jews use chapati or bhakri and sprinkle it with salt for the Shabbat prayers. I thought this was a big contrast between Indian and Western Jews when it comes to their cuisine. Similarly in Europe, wine is very common but here in India we don’t get Kosher wine. So instead we make a sharbat by soaking black currant in water, and use it as a perfect substitute for Kosher wine. Or, Khajur ka Sheera which is used for a festival is easily available in the West but not in India and so we have to make everything from scratch. Over the years, Indian Jewish food is becoming a dying art as most Indian Jews are migrating to Israel and other Western countries. Most of us are not really making these food items anymore or only have some oral memories of it. So I thought this is a good time to start documenting these interesting recipes of Indian Jewish food in my new book.
Also, in one of my previous novels- ‘The Book of Rachel’- I had decided that each incident starts with a recipe which is connected to the story and the emotion… Somehow, I’m fascinated by food.
2. While working on this book, did you too as an Indian Jew discover anything new about your community’s food habits that you didn’t know of earlier?
Yes! For example, there are platters prepared during festivals or celebrations– this is one of the Indian influences I noticed. Just like Prasad is served at festivals in India, we have adopted it in a different way in our cuisine. We prepare a big thali on occasions and add different kinds of food to it as an offering to the festival or Prophet Elijah. After the prayers are said over the platter and Prasad is distributed, then the main meal is served as a Thanksgiving. This I thought was a very strong Indian influence.
Also, we can’t have dairy products with meat items and so we can’t have most mithais with our meals. Only when there is Jain food, we are okay with having mithais with it but even those we make on our own for festivals. The biggest surprise that has come to me is how do you make a sweet which follows the dietary laws of Jews, besides using a lot of fruits? So the solution to it is Chik-Cha Halwa, which is wheat extract or chik with coconut milk which is cooked for about 7-8 hours.
I noticed that the Indian Jews from North-east India have very strong influences of their local cuisine on their food. They make dishes like bamboo noodles, rice flour pancakes with honey, or smoked fish in bamboo hollows, among others. They also use a lot of local food items like ginger, chili, yams, roots and fermented meats in their cooking.
3. Which are your favourite Indian Jewish dishes from this book?
From my area, the Bene Israel Jews of Western India, I like Chik-Cha Halwa. Down south, I’m very fascinated with Fish Eggs recipe and Chicken Curry with Gongura or Sorrel Leaves recipe, Dumplings made by the Bengal Jews, and Chak-hao or Black Rice Pudding made by the Bnei Menashe Jews of Manipur which was delicious and interesting! My table is no longer what I knew.
4. Talking of your previous novels and non-fiction books, you mostly have Indian Jew characters and you mainly write about the community. What does home, identity, and being an Indian Jew mean to you?
It is very conflicting as there is a cross-cultural conflict that we experience. I think we Indian Jews live a very secretive life. Most Jewish celebrations happen after 7 PM. On the streets we all look like Indians, but the moment we enter a synagogue we wear the kippah (the Jewish skull cap) and we pray, there are celebrations, etc. Even in our homes, most festivals are celebrated after sunset, and so it’s like a transformation that takes place in the evenings. These two conflicting emotions– of being a Jew and an Indian- I find it very difficult. In my books I write about Jewish themes to understand myself, where I come from, where I belong, and yet at heart I’m an Indian.
5. ‘Bene Appetit’ is your 11th published book. You have written fiction, non-fiction, children’s books, etc before. What do you enjoy writing the most out of these?
Fiction- Jewish! You asked me about the cross-cultural conflict– that interests me the most. Our community is getting smaller and there would be problems. Our children go out for education, they meet people of different communities, and they want to get married out of the community– so how does the community handle all of this? In most of my books, like ‘Bombay Brides’ or ‘Shalom India Housing Society’, I’m trying to solve these problems.
The second thing that interests me is how do the Jews here accept Indian and Jewish life? How does it accept and deal with all the social issues we face now as a very microscopic community? I’m not an academician, scholar or researcher and I won’t be able to do justice to it. But the only way I can deal with it is through stories and so fiction is liberating in a way.
6. You are an artist, illustrator, sculptor and writer. How do you express yourself the best?
Now it’s only through words and drawings, and when I’m talking to people like you who understand. When I’m talking I feel relieved… Drawing liberates me. I use some 50-60 pens of different types, and I’m constantly thinking while drawing. Even in earlier books, I used to draw my characters and then built the story around them. I visualize first and then write, as that’s my art training.
I have removed the word “block” from my life. I’m continuously constructing– situations, characters, etc in my mind. I usually work on two novels at the same time– a light novel and a heavy one.
7. And writing tips for aspiring writers?
Keep writing, keep writing, keep writing– there is no other way! Also, a lot of young writers don’t want to rewrite or edit their work, which I think is very important.
8. Lastly, any book recommendations?
I have a tendency to read about communities and how they survive. I like the works of Orhan Pamuk, Ismat Chugtai, and Rushdie.
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