The Journey to America
July 4th, 1993. As the crackle of the overhead speakers travels through the plane, the crowd suddenly falls silent and looks to the front of their section. The passengers celebrate with a round of claps and cheers as the airline hostess exclaims:
“We have safely reached our destination! Thank you for choosing to fly with Air India!”
As she drones on about the usual safety reminders and deplaning precautions, my parents gaze out the window and take in the view of what is called New York City. After the many years of hard work and the long plane ride it took, my parents, who were full of hope to live a better life, were finally on American soil — that too on Independence Day. They cleared through customs and immigration and headed out to take on the city that never sleeps. They were given a brief tour as they traveled to their friend’s place, where they would be temporarily staying. My parents were mesmerized by the tall buildings and flashing lights; everything was different from the way things were in India. While they thought they would easily assimilate into the American culture, they were soon to discover that it would be more difficult than they thought.
August 15, 1993 — Indian Independence Day. After looking for a month for a place settle, my parents moved into their own apartment in Flushing, New York. It was like they finally gained their full independence when they moved in and were on their own. Discovering that there were no Indian grocery stores nearby, my mother found it very difficult to create traditional Indian meals that she use to cook back in India. Therefore, she was forced to experiment with other American spices and substitute it for Indian ingredients. At this time, my mother was very unfamiliar with cooking meat, so she would usually cook vegetarian dishes. However, when Dussehra — the Indian holiday that celebrates the victorious battle between Lord Rama and the ten headed demon king, Ravana, which is traditionally celebrated with a non-vegetarian dish — came around, my mother took a different turn. For this holiday, my mom wanted to cook a dish with meat and decided on preparing chicken biryani.
Biryani is a mixed rice dish that is created by blending spices, meat, and vegetables. The word biryani is derived from the Persian language — birinj being the Persian word for rice; however, the origin of the dish is uncertain but it is heavily connected to Andhra Pradesh, where my parents were born.
When my mother was growing up, biryani used to be considered a valuable meal because meat was very expensive at the time. Now that meat is a common ingredient, biryani appears more often than before. Whenever there is an event going on like a family reunion, cultural celebration, or a wedding, biryani is sure to be on the menu. Biryani serves as an icon dish for the Indian community; it must be on the menu, otherwise it will feel like something is missing. Biryani to us is like the turkey at Thanksgiving dinner — it completes the menu.
November 25, 1993. Since my parents were the first people in my family to travel and settle in the United States, they were on their own to alter the recipes to the ingredients that were readily available. My mother started to prepare for Dussehra by heading to the local grocery store and finding any spices that can be substituted for the usual ingredients. She scanned the spice rack and picked up anything she thought could be useful like black pepper, paprika, and a variety of herbs. She picked up the paprika because of its resemblance to red chili powder, an Indian spice which is referred to as cayenne in America; however, they were nothing alike.
After trying her best to cook the dish, the result was far from perfect. The biryani came out bland; however, that did not stop my mother from trying to perfect the recipe. She experimented with other ingredients until she got it right and as close to the authentic taste as possible. After changing the recipe based on the ingredients available, she also modified the recipe to tailor to those with a lower spice tolerance. Although it was hard to adapt to the different ingredients, my mother strived to perfect the recipe and finally was able to change the recipe to fit her surroundings.
My mother can be directly compared to the Tita from Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. My mom was able to effectively adapt to what she had available and use that to cook incredible meals just like Tita did in the novel when she made a quail rose petal sauce with Pedro’s roses. My mom created new recipes by altering the ingredients, but she still managed to keep the tradition of the meals intact, such as preparing biryani for Dussehra. Although Indian supermarkets are now easily accessible, my mother is still considered the Tita of my family because she is able to easily manipulate recipes and is a very talented cook.
Fast forward thirteen years to September 20, 2006. My family now consists of my parents, my brother (age 7), and myself (age 8). After living in New York City for thirteen years, my mother received a job offer from a private company in Georgia. She soon accepted and we packed up and left New York.
This moment was a turning point in our life. Ever since we left New York, my knowledge of my Hindu culture has grown exponentially. Because of my mother, I now play an active role in the Indian community and freely practice my religion here in Georgia.
Through this project I plan on interviewing my mother to discover more on how she experienced the transition from India to the United States. I hope to find out more about how difficult it was to find an Indian community in New York and how that changed once we came to Georgia. I want to learn how my mom was able to alter the recipes and how closely they resembled the traditional recipes from India. She has been cooking since she was a child and has grown up with the authentic Indian recipes. Since she has experienced both the traditional and Americanized versions of these meals, she will be able to effectively illustrate the difference and similarities between these recipes.
Interview Questions:
- What do you remember from your first day in the United States?
- What were your initial thoughts when you came here?
- How did you decide what part of New York you were going to settle in?
- After settling, how was cooking here different from cooking in India?
- Tell me some of your experiences when trying to find substitutes for the ingredients.
- When was the first time you served biryani to a non-Indian audience?
- How did you modify your recipe to suit this audience?
- What was your reaction when you first found an Indian grocery store?
- How does your biryani recipe today differ from the one that you learned in India?
- What do you think biryani means to our family?
Working Sources:
1) Banerji, Chitrita. Land of Milk and Honey: Travels in the History of Indian Food. Oxford, UK: Seagull, 2007. Print.
2) Achaya, K. T. Indian Food: A Historical Companion. Delhi: Oxford UP, 1994. Print.
3) “Policy Brief.” Immigrationpolicy.org. Immigration Policy Center, 2 June 2002. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
4) Brooks, David. “Lady Gaga and the Life of Passion.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Oct. 2015. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.
5) Ferguson, Kirby. “Everything’s a Remix.” Everything Is a Remix. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
6) Neusner, Jacob. World Religions in America: An Introduction. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster/John Knox, 1994. Print.
7) Smith, Andrew F. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford U, 2013. Print.
8) Singh, Rocky, and Mayur Sharma. “Indian Food- Evolution to Revolution.” TEDxIIMShillong. 14 Mar. 2014. Lecture.
9) “The History of Biryani” | DESIblitz.” DESIblitz The History of Biryani Comments. 14 Apr. 2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
10) Yin, David. “Lamb Burgers and Biryani.” Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
11) Joesph, Ashish, and Sharanya CR. “9 Kinds of Biryani Every Food Lover Must Know — The Times of India.” The Times of India. 23 July 2015. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
12) Bachai, Sabrina. “5 Indian Spices That Are Good For Your Health.” Medical Daily. 2 Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
