SUPERMODERNITY AND TRADITION IN ONE DAY : MIAMI TO THE INDIAN RESERVATION IN ONE DAY

SUPERMODERNITY AND TRADITION IN ONE DAY

MIAMI TO THE OMAHA INDIAN RESERVATION.

Hey, Doc, said my Omaha Indian teacher, I don't know where Belgium is, but it does not matter, I will never go over there.

Even more importantly, he has no desire to go to Belgium.

Then he asks, are you free this Wednesday night?

Yes, when you are in the Reservation, while Indians lead busy lives, I have solitary evenings and time to reflect on my days with them.

Come and join us at the Inipi Ceremony, he invited.

His world is contained in the rhythm set by his ancestors. The invaders who came just 300 years ago to his territory are seen apart from himself and his people.

We touch their world when we have to, exist there for the time it takes to deal with them, but we live in our own world, he had told me once.

For them, the cell phone and the Internet has not become the dominant factor in their lives, they still visit each other and talk.

In my first year of work with the Indian, I remember visiting an older Meskwaki Indian, Wilson B.

We sat on the porch of his house, for half an hour or so, without saying a word.

And when I stood up to leave, the older Indian said to me,

That was a good visit, come again.

Who is really better off?

The Indian who still keeps their ancient concepts of Time, Friendship, Solitude, Thought and peace or the modern man, in search of all the above, tethered to his iPhone, with greater liberty to travel, with interest to travel but cannot travel, has greater opportunity to learn, to gain knowledge but has not time to do so?

(ATTENDING TO THE PEOPLE IN RAPA NUI)

Boils down to the same things again…

Decrease your desires, from the Buddhist philosophy

I don't know where Belgium is, but it does not matter, I will never go there or

Enhance your desires, as in, Belgium sounds interesting, I want to add that to my Bucket List?

Anthropologists such as Sapir and Whorf (Linguists as well) wrote that there exists a relationship between categories and language structure and the way human beings apprehend the world.

But Structuralism of Claude Levi-Strauss and the theories of Gregory Bateson (Towards an Ecology of he Mind, 1973) had observed that, among the Indigenous people of the world, Levy-Strauss got his start with the Nambikwara in Brasil, in the world view of the Indians, relationships count far more than actual objects.

Like they say, Mitakuye Oyasin, we are all related.

Gregory Bateson was married to Margaret Mead, the well-known American Anthropologist, who did an excellent early anthropological study of the Omaha Indians!

This concept of Relationship is exemplified in the difference in NETWORKING among Indians and Non Indians.

Even among the Non Indians, the value of relationships are shown in this phrase:

Tell me who your friends are, I will tell you who you are.

As always I am amazed at the similarities of all ancient philosophies and even here one can find the similarities.

THE BROWN SUGAR DOCTOR TO THE KICKAPOO

THE BROWN SUGAR DOCTOR TO THE KICKAPOO

When I began working with the Indians, I used to introduce myself as the Sugar Doctor, in keeping with the humour of the times. I distinctly remember, when giving a conference on Type 2 Diabetes among the Indians, Louis LR, Chairman of the Hocanks, impishly questioned me publicly?

Are you a White Sugar Doctor or a Brown Sugar Doctor?

Of course the pun was intended since Brown here referred to my skin colour as well as the rising popularity of Brown Sugar.

Before arriving at the Clinic of the Mexican Kickapoo, properly referred as Texas Traditional Tribe of Kickapoo, they would put up a sign saying, The Sugar Doctor will be here next week. The Clinic Nurse was to later report to me that; the sign alone had tremendous effect on the Type 2 Diabetics among them. In fact, she reminded me, after they see that notice, their blood sugar begin to go down.

After many years being with them, now I can understand the Symbolic Healing offered by the Sign proclaiming The Sugar Doctor will be here!

They did use the term Brown to denote my appearance since they have another word, Makate, which they use to describe Blacks, now identified as African-Americans, of whom there were hardly any in their town in the USA but there is community of descendants of Black slaves of the Seminole Indians, now well mexicanized near the sacred grounds in Nacimiento de los Negros in Coahuila, Mexico

Yesterday morning I was discussing matters of nutritional importance to my friend, Dr. W and he was preparing a nice cup of coffee for me. Of course I will never have any of the artificial sweeteners, such as Splenda, and give me Brown Sugar, I told him.

That made me think, what are the advantages of Brown Sugar over say White Sugar?

I don't need any convincing about the ill effects upon health of Splenda or other artificial sweetener such as Aspartame (used in Diet Drinks).

But what about the White Sugar? And is Brown Sugar healthier than the White Sugar? Where did the brown sugar come from or where did white sugar get its colour?

And finally where did sugar come from, which part of the world, and having lived in at least two countries (Cuba, Jamaica) with precious history of Sugar and two states with corporate ties to Sugar (Florida, in the USA and Queensland in Australia), I was prompted to look into it.

The Cane from which sugar is refined is a reed and possibly had its first use as a sweetener in the region now we now know as Papua-New Guinea. But traders brining it to India, was the crucial step in its dissemination to the rest of the world, since the first refining may have taken place in India in or around 5^th Century of the Common Era.

Two great Hindu Physicians, Charaka and Sushruta had mentioned in their writings about a disease they called MadhuMeha or Honey Urine Disease, which we now call Diabetes Mellitus (thus named by Arateus the Cappadocian, meaning Syphon, since he observed polyuria in his patients with this illness). He seemed to have practiced medicine in the second century of CE.

The Hindu physicians not only correctly identified the two types of Diabetes, which we now know are Type 1 and Type 2, but also had observed the effects of refining of sugar and its increased consumption to the onset of the “gluttonous type of Honey Urine Disease”.

Refined sugar travelled with the Arabs to the Iberian Peninsula and from there to the Caribbean. Cuba at one time held the record for being the biggest producer of good quality sugar. (It is worthwhile to note that despite that Cuba had one of the lowest levels of Type 2 Diabetes in the world until recently, around 1990s, the prevalence began to increase, so did the obesity)

SO ONE EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF MY ARGUMENT: It is not refined Sugar, the white table sugar, Sucrose, a mixture of Glucose and Fructose that causes Diabetes, but some other changes in the society has to accompany the increasing sugar intake. Also here we have to make the distinction, Sugar or Sucrose is made from Cane Juice by evaporation and refining and artificial sugars are just that, chemically produced the most famous of which is High Fructose Corn Syrup which is made from Corn and now, its relative Maltodextrin. There is also non-absorbing sugar alcohol like Erythritol, Mallitol which are found in Chewing Gum, Truvia etc.  But always read labels, chemicals are chemicals and watch out for the company they keep. Truvia which sound rather healthy because of its sonorous similarity to Stevia, the sugar plant of the Indians of the South, is Mallitol plus Maltodextrin. You would also see that it contains:

Rebiana is the trade name for high-purity rebaudioside A, a steviol glycoside that is 200 times sweeter than sugar!

My advice, Cargill the agricultural giant that manufactures Truvia is not known for ethical practices, so stay away!

Back to Brown Sugar..

MUSCAVADO ON TOP

Natural brown sugar, raw sugar or whole cane sugar are sugars that retain a small to large amount of the molasses from the mother liquor (the partially evaporated sugar cane juice). Based upon weight, brown cane sugar when fully refined yields up to 70% white sugar, the degree depending on how much molasses remained in the sugar crystals, which in turn is dependent upon whether the brown sugar was centrifuged or not.  As there is more molasses in natural brown sugar, it contains minor nutritional value and mineral content. Some natural brown sugars have particular names and characteristics, and are sold as turbinado, demerara or raw sugar if they have been centrifuged to a large degree. Brown sugars that have been only mildly centrifuged or unrefined (non-centrifuged) retain a much higher degree of molasses and are called various names across the globe according to their country of origin: e.g. panela, rapadura, jaggery, muscovado, pilconcillo etc.

Turbinado, Demerara and so-called "Raw" sugars are made from crystallized, partially evaporated sugar cane juice, spun in a centrifuge to remove almost all of the molasses. The sugar crystals are large and golden coloured. This sugar can be sold as is or sent to the refinery to produce white sugar

Muscovado, panela, pilconcillo, jaggery and other natural dark brown sugars have been minimally centrifuged or not all at all. Typically these sugars are made in smaller factories or "cottage industries" in developing nations, where they are produced with outdated, traditional practices that do not make use of industrialized vacuum evaporators or centrifuges. They are commonly boiled in open pans, upon wood fired stores until the sugar cane juice reaches approximately 30% of the former volume and sucrose crystallization begins. They are then poured into molds to solidify or onto cooling pans where they are beaten or worked vigorously to produce a granulated brown sugar. In some countries, such as Mauritius or the Philippines, partially centrifuging the evaporated and crystallizing cane juice to create a sugar-crystal rich mush, which is allowed to drain under gravity to produce varying degrees of molasses content in the final product, produce a natural brown sugar called muscovado. This process approximates a slightly modernized practice introduced in the 19th century to generate a better quality of natural brown sugar. A similar Japanese version of uncentrifuged natural cane sugar is called kokuto (Kanji: 黒糖). This is a regional specialty of Okinawa, and is often sold in the form of large lumps. It is sometimes used to make shochu. (Information on Brown sugar freely available from Wikipedia).

So I cannot argue with my friend, Dr. W, the commercially sold Brown sugar has no greater health benefit than the smugness you may feel about having chosen Brown Sugar but the artisanal brown sugars are still healthier than the white or commercial brown stuff, as they may contain minerals.

As the Brown Sugar Doctor to the Traditional Kickapoo, I can only say:

Pass me the Brown Sugar.. Let me enjoy my Coffee

It is good to have friends like Dr W, who keep an open mind and offer constructive criticism. Here are his comments, published here verbatim. Thank You, Dr W.and L'Chaim, to Life!

Dear S, I'm sorry to say this but I do feel that it would be somewhat irresponsible for you to disseminate this article to laypeople. I think it is a mistake to equate artificial sweeteners as "chemicals" while implying that brown sugar Is natural.

This makes me think of a point that I recently heard in a weight watchers meeting. A 5 pound package of sugar could be sold labeled as "fat free" giving the implication that is a promoter of health.   Of course we would agree that nothing could be further from the truth.

The word "chemical" carries an Implication that something is bad. Please be reminded penicillin is a "chemical", so is oleic acid. As is chemotherapy. It requires some education and knowledge to determine which chemicals are good and which Chemicals are bad for us.   Just as the term "fat free" requires a similar education to be interpreted correctly so as not to be misleading.

And even things that are truly natural which these days are hard to find can be eaten to excess leading to conditions that are just as Pernicious as the ingestion of smaller quantities of substances or chemicals that we may be consider to be toxic.

So in summary, I say please be careful with your semantics. I believe our opinions are pretty much on the same page but you must be very careful as words have multiple meetings and can be very deceiving. I also disagree with the notion that artificial sweetener is bad in all cases. For many people Have been able to lose large amounts of weight by utilizing artificial sweeteners. I think it all depends on the quantity and the particular artificial sweetener involved. Choose your chemical: sucrose, Sucrose with a brown color caused by an insignificant trace of minerals versus erythritol.  I think that the Answer for most of us depends on individual genetics, predisposition to insulin spikes And of course on quantity consumed, etc. More need for individualized medicine is clear.

Unfortunately this leaves the layperson almost as confused as the physicians. I think the jury is still out on artificial sweeteners. Is anyone able to provide scientific evidence That overall mortality is higher in consumers of artificial sweeteners than in consumers of sucrose?

WHEN EXOTIC BECOMES EXTORTION: INDIAN FOOD IN MIAMI

WHEN EXOTIQUE BECOMES EXTORTION :INDIAN FOOD IN MIAMI

Indian Cuisine is an oxymoron, unless of course it is a compilation of numerous cuisines found all over India. Indian cuisine was introduced to the West by its former masters, the British, and it is that version and not the every day versions of what people in the subcontinent eat or what one could delight in some of their best restaurants.

The so-called Indian Restaurants in the UK and elsewhere has a history that in itself is exotic.

“The British have long enjoyed food with a bit of bite. And 200 years ago, an Indian migrant opened Britain's first curry house to cater for the fashion for spicy food

"Indian dishes, in the highest perfection… unequalled to any curries ever made in England." So ran the 1809 newspaper advert for a new eating establishment in an upmarket London square popular with colonial returnees.

Diners at the Hindostanee Coffee House could smoke hookah pipes and recline on bamboo-cane sofas as they tucked into spicy meat and vegetable dishes.

This was the country's first dedicated Indian restaurant, opened by an entrepreneurial migrant by the name of Dean Mahomed.”

The poor man filed for bankruptcy in just three years since it was not the custom of people including the colonial returnees to go out to eat, they had cooks at home.

Is the word Curry as Indian as people think it is? No, the word is much older in the western usage than the colonialization and its origin is also interesting. One theory suggests the word comes "kari", Tamil for sauce. However, an English cookbook, The Forme of Cury, was published in the 1390s. (Read it online with Project Gutenberg)

"All hot food of the time was referred to as cury. It came from the French word 'cuire' which means to cook."

Nearly three out of four Indian restaurants outside India are owned, the food cooked by BANGLADESHIS, and surprisingly almost all of them are from just one district in Bangladesh, Sylhet.

In UK, In Brussels, I have put this question to the owner: Why Sylhet? Why Bangladeshis?

"BANGLADESHI" FOOD IN BRUSSELS: LUNCH FOR 10 EUROS

The answer is always the same, when they arrived as immigrants, they were not qualified for many of the jobs available, and most of the men could cook, so they opened up small eating-places. In UK where the returning colonial masters already had established a palate for Curried dishes, and with the increasing immigration after the Second World War, these places became popular.

Why Sylhet? That needs a bit of digging into.

“A number of Indian sailors jumped ship or were dumped at major ports including Cardiff and London. These seamen from Sylhet - now a region in Bangladesh - opened cafes, mainly to cater for fellow Asians.

"They were self-taught but they cleverly adapted themselves to the British palate," says Mr. Groves.

And in the 1940s, they bought bombed-out chippies and cafes, says Ms. Collingham, selling curry and rice alongside fish, pies and chips. "They stayed open really late to make money to catch the after-pub trade."

And so the ritual of the post-pub curry was born.

"It took quite a long time for the British to recover from World War II," says Ms. Collingham. "They were willing and more open to try new things.

After 1971, there was an influx of Bangladeshis following war in their homeland, particularly to London's rundown East End. Many entered the catering trade, and today they dominate the curry industry.”

Dr. Lizzie Collingham, author of Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors.

Peter Groves, co-founder of National Curry Week

The USA, especially Latin American dominated Miami, is not a good place for Curry, and for that matter much of the other Ethnic foods. A good curry or a good Mexican Mole is hard to come by, even though one can get a tasty plate of Cuban Food, which to Miami is what Curry is to England.

All my excursions into the Curry world of Miami have been less than tantalizing to my tonsils, so I was excited when my good friends and eating companions, Dr&Mrs W, invited me to savour “Indian” food at Copper Chimney at Sunny Isles in Miami.

It is situated in a strip mall, at a corner of Miami dominated by Russian and East European immigrants who began arriving here in Miami quite recently. Asian immigrants are rare in Miami, perhaps because they would have to learn Spanish to survive here, so the few Asians who are here are professionals. Perhaps that explains the extortionate prices of “curries” in this Indian restaurant, the first I have eaten in the west not owned by a Bangladeshi, but by a turbaned Sikh!

              Extortion in Miami: Rogan Josh 21 dollars, nearly 15 British 

              Pounds!

The prices were twice as much as any similar restaurants in London. The quality was not something to write home about. But it lent to some anthropological observations.

The owners and family were suitably obese, as Indian immigrants to USA tend to be, and pleasant in their singsong accents. The greeter was Russian and the waitress was Lithuanian, keeping with the neighbourhood ambience. The Slavic immigrants in Miami are notorious for their “mafia-style” practices and the turbaned Sikh has learned to adapt as well, charging twice as much for his dishes, offering nothing spectacular: ambience, service or food quality, in return. It is certain that I will not return.

I fondly thought of KANIZ Indian Restaurant, suitably owned by Bangladeshis from Sylhet, situated a stones throw away from Heathrow airport. If you ever find yourself overnighting there before or after an international flight I highly recommend this restaurant. They would send a car to pick you up from your restaurant if you call them. It is far more exotic and far less extortionate than its Miami counterpart.

I had chicken karahi the last time I ate there with my sister and just recently she and her husband dined there the night before they boarded their plane to Miami.

                           Dishes at Kaniz, average Dinner Price,

                           20 pounds per person, 30USD

Oh what a difference!

Outside India, the south Indian cuisine is extremely difficult to find, but it is easier to find them in South East Asia or the Middle East. Give me any day a Chettynad Dish or one from Mangalore and in Paris, along the rue Chappelle, for one third of the prize of a dish we paid in Miami, one could savour a good Masla Dosai! My own preference for South Indian food outside South India is Kuala Lumpur, where a plethora of restaurants owned and operated by Malayalee Christians or Tanjore Moslems would serve up authentic dishes of their regions of origin in India.

For the Mughal Inspired, North Indian cuisine or the Portuguese inspired Goan cuisine, the best place is London, even though I must admit I did have a nice Fish Curry in Lisboa, the chef was from Goa.

A good Iranian friend of mine, when studying in London, could identify the Persian origin of many of the “Indian” dishes, brought over to the North of the subcontinent by Moghul and Afghan invaders.

So Curry, like the word itself, is the food of Invaders and Colonizers, which the Colonized cleverly guised to sell back to their former masters!

Curry in Malacca, Malaysia. Prices are in Malaysian Ringgit, one dollar equals 3+ Ringgits.

 Lamb Curry in KL with Masala Tea, Price 3 USD

South Indian Curry eaten on a Banana Leaf, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Superb Andhra Food in Bangalore, costs less than 10 usd per person.. Exquisite!