Food, like music, has no barriers, and is universal. Indian cuisine has been second to none across the globe with Mangalorean delicacies from the nation’s west coast carving a niche of its own.
Tweaking the saying ‘East or West, Home is the Best’ into ‘East or West, Mangalorean cuisine is the best’ gave Melburnian duo Evie Carvalho and Larissa D’Silva impetus to start an Authentic Mangalorean Cuisine Club (AMCC) that has been making waves since its birth on social networking site Facebook. The immense popularity of the site can be gauged from the fact that within a matter of months since its inception, over 700 members have joined the group from every nook and corner of the globe irrespective of gender or age, displaying their wide ranging cooking talents. The beauty of this group is that members are not only Mangaloreans but people from all walks of life who love ‘Mangalorean food.’ The reason being that Mangaluru is a leading ‘educational hub’ of India, and students who studied there and built their future have fallen in love with the distinctive cuisine amongst other things.
“There is absolutely no match to the food that is cooked in one’s kitchen, prepared with love, patience and care,” say Evie and Larissa. The two are good cooks themselves, and say they had a fervent desire to bring out the best in others by encouraging them to post their dishes on this site along with the recipes. “It would benefit us all for generations to come,” they say.
Food cooked and posted so far by members include Panpole, Holigey, Chicken sukka, Mandas, Kori roti, Masala dosa, Idli and dukra mass and many more. There have been regular posts from Dolly Cutinho, Julianna D’Mello and Varsha Fernandes from Melbourne, and Gretta lewis from the USA. The duo now has plans to introduce regular catch-ups and organise a Mangalorean food festival in the near future.
“The recipes on the site give immense satisfaction to the person who has posted the dish prepared in their own kitchen and a sense of déjà vu to the person who is yet to try it,” say Evie and Larissa. “Knowledge is the only thing that does not become second hand, no matter how many times it’s shared,” they say.
Log on to https://www.facebook.com/groups/180697742586755/ to start your journey in Mangalorean food heritage
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