Posted by Soul food is food that holds the ability to touch you, make you feel alive again. You crave it at moments of sadness, happiness, loneliness or even when you don’t want to feel the thorns of life. They make you realise you are living and that life is still worth living for.
You can find your soul food in the humblest of places, devoid of any finery or Insta-worthy background. Sometimes even by the roadside. Food makes me alive through the way it plays with my taste buds and sparks up my brain chemistry.
Fuchka is one of my soul foods. When I go back to my hometown, I always stop by the guy who has been serving them at the same spot for the past 15 years of my life. His perfect blend of spicy and tangy, punctuated by the copious use of gondhoraj lime, always makes me stop for a minute after the first bite. You feel the sourness of the tamarind water course through your throat and merge with your blood cells to spike your neuron centre to unleash the floodgates of satisfaction.
In all humility, no other life experience has come this close to it. I wouldn’t even call the feeling happiness. It is just a state of being where only satisfaction and fulfilment stay. Your soul food has this power. Fuchka from this vendor is just one of those food items for me.
There also comes the debate that, for some, soul food can only be the food they grew up with. Meaning only the flavours their taste buds and neurons are accustomed to can trigger such strong emotion and connection. But I disagree. As you travel the world, explore cuisines and open your palate to experiences, some tastes trigger newness. At a later date, when you wonder and ponder during moments of ruminations, your brain might just pull up the taste card to make you crave those simple spinach and chive half patties your Uzbeki guide bought you because you are a vegetarian.
So I now believe in collecting a variety of soul food in my taste card rolodex. You never know which one pulls your heartstrings and makes you book your next flight ticket.