KOCHI: New words are always a joy. They are like small pills with the power to transport one to new worlds.Let’s start off with some leftover tidbits — especially for gastronomes — from last week’s Merriam-Webster update.
Omakase: “a series of small servings or courses (as of sushi) offered at a fixed price and whose selection is left to the chef’s discretion; adverb or adjective: ‘according to the chef’s choice’”
Ras el hanout: “a mixture of ground spices that are used in northern African cooking and includes coriander, ginger, turmeric, peppercorns, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, cayenne pepper, and other spices”
Mojo: “a sauce, marinade, or seasoning that is usually composed primarily of olive oil, garlic, citrus juice, and spices (such as black pepper and cumin)”
Do note, the word also means “a quality that attracts people to you and makes you successful and full of energy”. Basically, one’s “confidence or charisma”
Birria: “a Mexican dish of stewed meat seasoned especially with chilli peppers” (We will be off to Mexico in a while.)
Vegans can cheer, it’s official now! Oat milk: “a liquid made from ground oats and water that is usually fortified (as with calcium and vitamins) and used as a milk substitute”
And, here is the flavour of the season. Pumpkin spice: “a mixture of usually cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and often allspice that is commonly used in pumpkin pie”
I am inspired to make the legendary mathanga erissery with pumpkin spice for my editor-in-charge at home. After all, Halloween just got over (October 31), and pumpkins have been trending across the globe, especially in the west.
According to UK-based NGO Hubbub, Brits “throw away 22.2 million uneaten pumpkins this Halloween — around £32.6 million worth — at a time when food bills are at an all-time high”.
In the US, meanwhile, activists estimated that about “150 million pumpkins will be carved to create jack-o’-lanterns” despite the “average price per pumpkin climbing to $5.4 (up from $4.12 five years ago, reflective of global inflationary pressures)”.
Jack-o’-lanterns are “light made from a hollow pumpkin with holes cut into the sides like the eyes and mouth of a person’s face, inside which there is a candle”, used to set up a “merrily macabre mood” during the Halloween season.
In an article for the National Geographic, travel/adventure writer Blane Bachelor notes that the “concept of using a round fruit or vegetable to depict a human face goes back thousands of years in some northern European Celtic cultures”.
She writes that the Celtic festival of Samhain celebrated on November 1, “inspired many traditions of modern-day Halloween”.
“On Samhain eve, October 31, spirits of the dead were thought to mingle with the living,” adds Blane. “To ward off restless souls, people donned costumes and carved frightening faces into root vegetables such as beets, potatoes, and turnips—usually plentiful after the recent harvest.”
The National Museum of Ireland, in fact, still displays some “terrifying” turnips, we are informed.
Now, who the hell is Jack? Blane traces the nomenclature to “the 18th-century Irish folktale of Stingy Jack, an unsavoury fellow often said to be a blacksmith who had a fondness for mischief and booze”.
“Dozens of versions abound, but one recurring storyline is that Stingy Jack tricked the devil twice,” she continues. “When Jack died, he found himself barred from heaven—and hell. But the devil took some pity on Jack, giving him an ember of coal to light his turnip lantern as he wandered between both places for eternity — again inspiring the nickname Jack-of-the-Lantern or jack-o’-lantern.”
Didn’t I tell you, words can take us to new worlds?
Personally, however, I find Dia De Los Muertos more fascinating than Halloween and jack-o’-lanterns. Dia De Los Muertos or the Day of the Dead (November 2) is a Mexican national holiday to ‘celebrate’ with the departed souls.
It involves a two-day celebration when, as per belief, the “passageway between the real world and the spirit world is open so our deceased loved ones can come back to visit us”.
“One culture that has created a unique and interesting way to face death and the deceased is Mexico,” explains the dayofthedead.holiday website.
“Mexico is colourful, noisy, and lots of fun. The people, the food, and the celebrations are bright, loud, and unequaled. So when it comes to death, in true Mexican style, Mexicans celebrate with colour, food, and music.”
Two integral elements of Dia De Los Muertos are cempasuchil (marigolds), which are believed to “guide the spirits back with their intense color and pungent smell”, and calaveras (skulls), which were once “used during rituals in the Aztec era and passed on as trophies during battles”.
“There is nothing grim about these skulls,” adds the website maintained by professional writers. “They are decorated with colorful edible paint, glitter, beads, and sport huge smiles.”
That’s nice.
I am reminded of the subaltern celebration of death in Tamil Nadu, complete with peppy saavu melam percussion and dappan kuthu dance. Joined by mourners on a spiritual trip of the heady kind.
While Khalil Gibran poetically summed up death as freedom of “breath from its restless tides”, Osho packed it with a punch: “To me death is not the end of life but the very crescendo of life, the very climax. It is the ultimate of life. If you have lived rightly, if you have lived moment to moment totally, if you have squeezed out the whole juice of life, your death will be the ultimate orgasm.”
Okay, time for me to conjure up the pumpkin erissery.
Have a deadly week ahead:
Be dead to the world: “To be sleeping very soundly.”
As good as dead: “In a position of great and irreversible danger or trouble, with the outcome of death being either figurative or literal.”
Dead cat bounce: “A sign that something is healthy or recovering, when in fact the thing is already on its way to ruin, collapse, or stagnation. Used particularly in reference to financial issues. (Based on the figurative notion that a dead cat will still bounce after a large fall.)”
Dead beat: “Slang - Totally exhausted or fatigued. (Not to be confused with “deadbeat,” a lazy, feckless, or negligent person.”
Be dead on the vine: “Literally (of fruit), to have shriveled and died before being harvested, as due to neglect or lack of resources; (figurative) to have failed prematurely or not come to fruition, as due to being ignored, neglected, impractical, or without the necessary means to succeed.”
Roll over and play dead: “To submit, acquiesce, or comply (to or with something) without any action, resistance, or protest. An allusion to a particular behaviour in which certain animals feign death as a defense mechanism when faced with the threat of a predator.”
Silent as the dead: “Totally silent, especially as it produces an ominous or foreboding effect.”
Dead air: “Any period of awkward or uncomfortable silence.”
Wake the dead: “To be extremely noisy and disruptive.”
Knock (someone) dead: “To strongly impress one. Often used as an imperative to give encouragement.”
Only dead fish go with the flow: “You should take decisive action that aligns with your unique interests and needs rather than be influenced by those of someone else.”
You are/we’re a long time dead: “Our time in this life is very limited, so we should strive to have as enjoyable or fulfilling a life as possible in that time.”