Taste of rain

Despite globalisation, seasons matter when it comes to food. With a decent monsoon on its way, here’s what to expect on your plate.

No dark clouds on the horizon for the monsoon: despite the scattered shower of early worries, experts are saying that it will be a largely timely and dependable visitation this year. It won’t be farmers alone dancing in the rain, or politicians (as food prices are not expected to rise sharply) — because along with the falling water comes a welcome wave of monsoon foods.

Particularly leafy green worm-prone vegetables like spinach, and virtually all kinds of fish and seafood, are out of season and fall off many household menus, but there are significant replacements to be had — great snacks, for one, like paranthas, pakoras, dhokla, freshly roasted and masala-streaked bhutta, buttery spicy pao-bhaji, crisp vadas or steaming idlis with chutney and sambar. All of them taste better on rainy, overcast days.

A lot of this is easily available as street food, but during the monsoon many families choose to eat out less, for the traditional notion that food doesn’t keep well in moist, warm weather, and that also goes for raw stored foods. Such summer staples as panipuri and mangoes are both crossed off the menu, along with streetside cold treats like icy popsicles and lemon sherbet.

Instead, families eat light and filling foods like khichdis more frequently, and also such modest and region-specific rainy-season delicacies as lightly cooked green gram. South Indian fare really hits the spot, because it is fresh, often rice-and lentils-based, and relatively light. Likewise for their lightness, soups are in.

Non-leafy vegetables like brinjals, potatoes, tomatoes, chillies, okra, cucumbers, bottle and bitter gourd, tindas, beans and radishes come into their own. That’s what will be available with vegetable vendors and on dining tables.

Not all eaters are interested in light food. Meat-lovers are especially blessed during the rains. Banned from fish and greens, and safely past the sluggishness of full summer, they can indulge in all sorts of well-spiced meat dishes — biryanis, kebabs, keemas, and so on. For them, it’s winter come early.

Seasonal patterns of eating are robustly alive in India even though, with modern agriculture, cold storage and international trade, out-of-season vegetables and other foods can easily be obtained. It’s useful to remember that it’s more than prudence at work — it’s also taste.