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Editor's Note: This special three-part series (read the first and second installments) on the regional cuisine of India, by Monica Bhide and Chef Sudhir Seth, is made available to the readers of Seasoned Cooking by the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. This amazing organization is devoted to increasing awareness and knowledge of the arts of cooking, eating, and drinking, and to making further contributions to the literature of food and drink. Please join us in thanking them for their work and supporting them in their cause!Parsi Cuisine
Parsi cuisine is a critical part of the Gujarati cuisine and culture. "Dheekra" was the single word that started my love affair with Parsi food. I had heard that word many times in Indian movies, but growing up abroad I did not know what it meant. I asked my father. It means a "child" he said, it is Parsi. What was Parsi? Who were these people, always portrayed in Indian movies to be a fair skinned intellectual lot? Dad told me of the legendary meals he had had in Mumbai as a child at the homes of Parsi friends. The dishes that melded sweet and sour and spicy and salty. The elaborate preparations that made each guest feel like a king. I had to learn more. I started by reading Rohinton Mistry and so many others. I began to scratch the surface of a very complex culture. I fell in love with the characters they created, living together in a multi-storey building in Mumbai.
A community that is small in number, it has contributed to the worlds political, business and arts in amazing ways. Think Jrd Tata & Godrej (India’s leading business families), Vidal Sassoon and Zubin Mehta . . . when you think of Parsi’s. They are a very intellectual community, very talented. They came from what was Persia, now Iran, and landed in India in the state of Gujarat.
Unfortunately this wonderful people is fast decreasing in numbers. This is primarily due to the structure of Zoroastrainism - their religion. There are no converts allowed. One can only be born a Parsi. Marriages outside the community are not encouraged and anyone born of a non Parsi mother or father of such a marriage is not considered a Parsi and is not allowed into their Fire Temple or place of worship.
Their cuisine is a tantalizing marriage of Persian and Gujarati styles. Flavoring their curries with nuts and apricots, they brought the richness of Persia to the simple Gujarati food. Parsi food is not hot with chilies but has complex flavors and textures. They are primarily non-vegetarians and enjoy eating chicken, mutton and eggs.
