Goa: The Portuguese Connection
Authentic Goan food with that Iberian touch is fast becoming endangered as are its once unsullied sands in this former Portuguese colony dominated by British tourists. Beef Steak and Yorkshire Pudding are in. Only there’s more to eating than just this.
Goan Gourmet
History records that a startled Tunisian Muslim asked Vasco da Gama, when the two met in Calicut, India: “Que diablo tetrajo aca?” (“What the devil have you brought here?”). The answer was, “Pepper and Souls.” The prime motivation for the Portuguese to discover a direct sea route from Europe to India was the lure of the spice trade. The desire to win souls for Christ came next.
Goan food is essentially the food that Goan Catholics cook and consume. It is very largely influenced from Brazil, Mozambique, Macau, Java, Mexico and the Amazons (from where red peppers came to Goa); where the Portuguese also had colonies. The Portuguese also managed to greatly influence Goan cuisine, leaving behind a number of typically Portuguese dishes like Sarapatel or Sorpotel (made basically of clotted blood and diced pork), Cabidela, Caldeirada (a stew of fish and mollusk), Feijoada (beans and pork), Dobrada (tripe) and Escabeche.
The Iberian influence is evident even with Goan bread – the unusual variety includes Pao, Poie (baked from coarsely ground wheat flour), Kankan (a bangle-shaped bread) and Katrecho Unddo (cut bread). To suit local palates, Portuguese dishes became more condimented than the original versions. The Goan sausage for example, became more spicy than the so called Chouricos do reine (sausages of the kingdom ie: the former kingdom of Portugal). At times, the food drain was reversed. Thus, Goan Curry-rice, known to the Portuguese as Arroz-caril or Arroz-de-caril, became very popular in Portugal.
Perhaps, at some stage, the process even became many-faceted. A case in point is ‘Galinha a cafreal’ or ‘Galinha a piri piri’ which came from the Portuguese colony of Mozambique in Africa. It is believed that the Peixe tamarindo or the famous Goan para (virtually a pickled fish), came from Brazil. At any rate, Goibada, or Gauva cheese made from the gauva fruit, is definitely of Brazilian origin.
However, between then and now, Goan cuisine has become a much abused term, particularly by hotels and restaurants. Today, few restaurants serve authentic Goan food – much of it has been simply superannuated. Goan food is also beginning to lose on standardisation, as any Goan chef will tell you.
At the top of the victuals marketed as Goan food is Chicken Cafreal. To begin with, Chicken Cafreal or Galinha piri piri, experts say was a Mozambique grilled bush specialty. What passes off today in Goa as Galinha cafreal is actually roasted chicken, which is then fried.
The Fish and Meat Vindaloo too has little resemblance with the real Portuguese word vindalho, which means liquor and garlic. While dishes like Espetada are becoming popular, what is actually served is far from the gastronomical exotica it should have been. Espetada is actually a Daman (another former Portuguese enclave in India, further up north) specialty, and a grill that came from the Abyssinians who served as mercenaries in the Indian State of Gujarat.
Still, I would recommend popular Goan cuisine like Balchao (fish or prawn), Fish Recheiado, Xacuty, and Xecxec, even though it may never be the real thing.
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