I have never been a food enthusiast. Food is mostly something I shove into my mouth; chew a bit and I am done. I have never exulted over food. Perhaps the only time I have some discernible reaction to food is when I am served vadaa pav from a particular shop in Dadar, Mumbai. Vadaa pav generally prompts some culinary joy in me but that is about it.
With that as the backdrop I was reading Vir Sanghvi’s column in the Hindustan Times ‘Rude Food’ headlined “Gimme some dim sum” which talks a bit of history about dim sums and its sort of avatar momos and how they are now a sort of rage in India. I normally find no connection via any kind of food except when someone is talking vadaa pav. So it surprised me a bit when I found a tangential connection with momos as written by Vir. Having spent a long time in McLeod Ganj, the seat of the 14th Dalai Lama in 1997 and 1998 and during many subsequent visits as part of my work for the only authorized biography of its kind about him, I am very familiar with momos. As you might expect, I had eaten only a quarter of a momo in a little shack in McLeod Ganj. It did not work for me. That was before I settled in America.
My more interesting momo connection came in Bloomington, Indiana, sometime in 2002 when I spent a couple of days with Thubten Jigme Norbu, the Dalai Lama’s eldest brother (August 16, 1922—September 5, 2008) as part of my interviews for the biography. One evening he took me to a local restaurant. Quite mindful that I am a painful vegetarian he ordered momos and kimchi because those were the only two dishes I could eat. He had had the chef cook veg momos specially for me. I remember they were stuffed with cabbage and carrot.
“Eat them with kimchi. That will be delicious,” he said. Norbu had a couple of items whose names I do not remember but they were certainly not vegetarian. He devoured kimchi saying that was one of his favorite dishes.
I ate momos with great trepidation even though they were not half as bad. He was right about kimchi making momos delicious. I finished the two momos fantasizing as if they were vadaa pav. Just about now foodies of the world would want to kill me for saying that. I cannot help it. I told you I shove food in my mouth; chew a bit and I am done.
I find it remarkable when food enthusiasts such as Vir, who is actually more than that, can hold forth on foods. It is a human experience which has eluded me.
