Does man live by bread (or rice) alone?

What is missing from our dinner menu is not the fault of the kitchen keepers!

By B. Nimal Veerasingham

There was this gentleman who lived on the lane behind our house. Let’s call him ‘Chella’, and unrelated to his acquired name, he was a tall and burly strapper. Chella was the chef or chief cook at the local Teachers’ Training College, where, obviously, meals must be prepared for a larger crowd. The legend is that ‘Chella’ uses his bare hands to crush large quantities of garlic, ginger, curry leaves and green chillies to be put in boiling cooking vessels. His curries were graded ‘A’ by the future educators and that possibly enhanced their ability to enlighten students and in turn helped in an indirect manner to build a country with greater resolution and mission. While Chella’s role at the college kitchen was not widely realised, there was another side which became a legacy of his. On pay day, Chella, became another beast, howling, singing, swearing, kicking fences over—a driverless bulldozer in motion. The booze takes complete dominance over him, so much so his family members had to take refuge in neighbouring houses.

There was another gentleman—let’s call him ‘Nada’—who worked with us many moons ago. Unlike Chella, Nada was at the helm of finance with many professional acronyms adorning his name. Tall with well-oiled hair, combed back, his forehead always had light holy-ash markings. People have noticed that his posture, while standing, in relation to the ground, is not 90 degrees, unlike that of other fellow Homo sapiens; he stood at more or less an obtuse angle. When he was under the influence of liquor, which became a daily evening ritual, his angle became pronouncedly more obtuse, perhaps qualifying as a new Yoga posture. Friends swear that once he ended up in the hospital mortuary because he lacked vital signs. In the middle of the night the mortuary attendants heard heavy banging from inside and ran for their dear lives to fetch a ‘kattadiya’. His friends further swore that Nada was finally rescued from ‘death’, fully sober and the news appeared in the local newspaper, though nobody believed it.

My paternal grandfather was a man of few words, literally. During our childhood, other than the warnings he yelled at our climbing the many tall guava trees in his garden and during our ‘hide and seek’ episodes, fleeing down his low roof and side verandah, he hardly spoke. I attributed this to his habit of chewing betel. He was a jack-of-all-trades, a handy person who could fix anything, be it our broken leather soccer ball or a stuck bicycle axle. On his ‘pension day’ he would go to the local grocery store to settle the monthly grocery bill and would get us the best sweet chewy muscat in town. On his way home, he would stop at the ‘corner bar’ to have his quick dram, and the man would become even quieter afterwards.

Legend

Alcohol, or rather the escapades resulting from the effects of the ethanol is the foremost conversational topic in the vast majority of gatherings, at times beating the banter on a recently held cricket series. Of course, alcohol has a complicated history. Traces of alcohol has been detected in archaeological evidence unearthed from Chinese pottery as old as 7,000 to 6,000 BC, and further evidence proves that a part of the wages of Great Pyramids of Giza workers were paid in beer. The distillation of wine is alluded to in Arabic works, attributed to Al-Kindi (c.801-873CE) and Al-Farabi (c.872-950 CE), and in the 28th book of Al-Zahrawi. Southern Europe developed a taste, (pun intended), for the distillation methods introduced by Middle Eastern Muslim chemists by the early 14th Century. During the same period the methods were introduced and widely used in India, during the Delhi Sultanate rule.

The four main reasons for raising glasses and toasting, then and now are, to create a positive mood, to be social, to ‘cope and to confirm’. ‘Coping’ and ‘confirming’ usually considered as negative motives while to cope will likely lead to alcohol use disorders depending on the identity, social norms, and self-image of the drinker.

Chemistry

In 2018, the Global alcohol industry was valued at a trillion dollars. And no matter what the marketing tools of the industry tout as joyous in flowery melodies, the liquid in the bottle is simply disguised ethanol or ethyl alcohol, colourless, odourless and flammable in its pure form. A formula born out of fermentation, which could slow the blood flow to the brain, resulting in slow response of the body’s systems. It also triggers the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is associated with pleasure and satisfaction, and what’s more, stress relief is also associated with another neurotransmitter released under the influence of alcohol, Gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA).

The overwhelming human tendency to associate the experience of getting drunk with pleasure, draws them into a mirage, plunging them into disease, disaster, and worse, death. The rush is like the stock market, does not let you remain high forever, and the gravitational pull would not guarantee a soft landing. Driving after two drinks (assuming one drink equals 12 ounces of beer or five ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of spirits), when the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) exceeds 0.08 percent, is a punishable criminal offence that entails many penalties in many jurisdictions around the world. In 2010, 31 percent of all driving fatalities in the US were alcohol related.

Consequence

The body absorbs alcohol relatively quickly, but it takes longer to get the alcohol to flush out of the body. The liver needs about one hour to process one drink, where enzymes break ethanol into acetaldehyde and acetate. Consuming several within a short span causes the body to saturate with alcohol yet to leave the body, resulting in longer hangovers. Muscles absorb alcohol faster than fat, as a result people with muscles and less body fat have higher tolerance. Dark liquors, such as red wine or whiskey are more likely to result in severe hangovers, while white or clear ones much less. The abuse contributes to well over 200 diseases, injury related health conditions and unintentional injuries such as motor vehicle accidents, falls, burns, assaults and drownings. In 2016, three million deaths or 5.3 percent of all global deaths (7.7 percent men and 2.6 percent women) were attributed to alcohol consumption.

While the negative impact of alcohol abuse is very much tabulated with numerical data, the positive side of alcohol consumption in moderation, for example, the many indirect economic, health and collective societal asset building advantages of alcohol induced socialising, is not readily available.

Magic of red wine

In market studies on all spirits, there is a huge following for red wine and it tempts the novice with a reason to drink. The amount of sugar usually added to red wine should be taken into consideration, as studies conducted by King’s College London shows that brands with excess sugar could lead to irritability of the bowels and inflammation. It could also lead to bacterial overgrowth leading to bloating, pain and other discomforts.

Wine, depending on the culinary pairing at the dining table, has become a part of the standard European diet. Both as a ubiquitous social lubricant and a digestive enhancer, wine’s role in typical European backgrounds enhances societal binding and togetherness. Grapes, which grow well in Mediterranean and Southern European climatic conditions, have taken firm root in their diet. It is evident that most Italian, Greek, Portuguese and Spanish households, wherever they live, have grapevines in their back garden. Though 71 percent of the world’s grape production is used for wine production commercially, individual households take pride in producing their own.

European influence

The influence of wine was felt in Asia by way of European imperialism, in the name of trade expansion, through the sequential spread of religion. Christianity, notably Catholicism celebrates Eucharist, wherein the Last Supper, when

Christ requested his followers to remember him through bread and wine, is commemorated. As a result, wine, which is a part of the European diet, has now entered the lives of the followers at least on Sundays. The jury is still out on whether the wine served at the Last Supper or, for that matter, the wine mentioned in the very first miracle Jesus performed, in turning water into wine at a wedding, is indeed alcohol or just grape juice. I had friends at school who were alter-boys, whose ability to siphon off left-over wine after the mass, was legendary.

Most of the Protestant Churches do not serve wine during ‘communion’ as the occasion calls for coming together in remembering the death of Christ, the wine being only a symbol. The Salvation Army does not have communion or consume alcoholic beverages as per the calling of William Booth outside the ‘Blind Beggar’, a tavern in the infamous East End of London. Most of the converts of the early days were alcoholics and the denomination does not want to tempt them once again into poverty, disease, and dependence.

As part of their attempt to Europeanize the Asian culinary scene, the Colonial capitalists tried to pair the curries with wine, resulting in a disastrous outcome. Washington Post columnist Greg Kitsock describes it as, “Spices distort wine flavours, turning white wines hot and red wines bitter.” Rather than living on negative results, the capitalists discovered beer to match the fiery curries. “Curry’s main ingredients, garlic, chillies, coriander, lemon grass, turmeric, ginger…. All those warming spices meld wonderfully with the toasty flavours of malted barley. The richness of coconut milk and palm oil can’t knock out the crisp texture of carbonation …. Plus, a beer is often served chilled, which is a refreshing contrast,” says Lucy Saunders, writer contributing to many Asian magazines.

But the irony is that barley and hops, the main ingredients in beer, are not native or produced en masse in Asia but must be imported from Europe.

Ceylon arrack

Irrespective of whether the word ‘arrack’ is derived from the Arabic word ‘Arak’ (distillate) or the arecanut tree, being the base for many varieties of arrack, ‘Ceylon arrack’ made from coconut sap is the most popular among Sri Lankans.

Collecting sap from coconut and Palmyra trees is physically exhausting and left to experienced climbers and tappers who venture to climb countless trees to collect relatively small volumes of syrup from each tree. Arrack is one of few liquors that has a distillate of a 100 percent natural fermentation and, unlike whisky, distilled at high strength. Unfortunately, it is said that half of all Asians lack the active enzyme which breaks down acetaldehyde within ethanol found in most forms of alcohol. Most Westerners have this enzyme and as a result should drink more than Asians to have an equal buzz.

According to the World Health Organization’s data repository, in terms of alcohol consumption, South Koreans (over age 15) lead the pack, with 10.9 litres a year on average, while Vietnam follows with 8.7 litres. Although Sri Lanka and India scores closer with 4.5 and 4.6 litres, the numbers collected from legitimate and regulated bodies sometimes do not convey the real story.

There is a greater distribution of locally and illicitly brewed, cheap varieties that do not make it into the national statistics. A 1997 study in eight Sri Lankan villages revealed that 71 percent drink on a regular basis and 93 percent of the respondents consumed locally brewed alcohol. Another study on the urban poor showed that in families wherein members consumed alcohol, more than 30 percent of the total income was spent on alcohol.

Though rice, sugar cane and coconut sap, the three main locally available commercial agents, could be used in mass production, the local illicit brews do not source them due to high cost. Consequently, in many cases, cheap jaggery, coconut water, rotten greens and fruits are used.

Sovereigns of our nourishment

The business of feeding the household, for many generations, was entrusted to women, mostly the grandmothers of the family. It is their domain and they assumed the responsibility of keeping everyone cared for and nourished, through the act of feeding. One may call it a maternal hierarchy, but victors and successes always had their origins in kitchens that are shaped and sustained by women. ‘Masculinity’, in the historical context or current, is shaped by the mundane activities and experiences of the kitchenettes that played the role of second womb.

Both my grandmothers had kitchens, narrowly separated from the main house and almost the size or bigger than the living room. That was their territory and their friends visited them there directly to have tea, chat and to exchange home grown vegetables, seated on a mat, or low stools. The place was spotless-clean and neatly kept, and we hardly knew what was kept where, and even the pets, cat and dog, would never dare cross the kitchen entrance. I have overheard from my grandmothers that, long before childbirth was considered an ‘illness’ that required hospital admission, people always gave birth in their kitchens.

Under this regime of established womanhood in our part of the world, it is not difficult to understand the underpinnings of a family meal. What is approved and served by the matriarch at the dinner table becomes the benchmark of decency.

Women from our part of the world did not have control over the production of any variety of alcohol, and therefore were denied the ability to regulate or to add to the menu, unlike their European counterparts. The main ingredients, sugar cane, coconut sap and rice were beyond the boundaries of individual home gardens. The prime objective of rice cultivation is feeding the hungry rather than quenching the recreational thirst, which would require large volumes for alcohol production. The working class that taps toddy was kept at the lower rungs by a hypocritical society that had no qualms about consuming their laboriously made toddy.

The culture that influences how people consume alcohol is not determined arbitrarily but rather by the circumstances under which ingredients are made available for the women to regulate or to determine the form it needs to be presented in the family menu. My grandmother made awesome ‘hoppers’, with toddy replacing yeast, but it had to be procured through a neighbour who was a regular at the toddy tavern.

What if, as in Italy, our home gardens also produced grape wine? Would wine have become part of our menu? If that was the case, I doubt that ‘Chella’ would have kicked over fences, or ‘Nada’ got a cold reception at the mortuary, not to mention, my grandfather, who would not have had to wait in line for his quick dram on pension day at the ‘corner bar’.