The legendary appetites underlying Ram V and Filipe Andrade’s ‘Rare Flavours’
In the Mahabharata, the super-strong hero Bheema battles the human-eating demon Bakasura; it is a brief-but-riveting scene in the world’s longest epic poem, and it inspires the forthcoming BOOM! Studios comics series Rare Flavours from creators Ram V and Filipe Andrade. Food is central to both the ancient tale and the comic.
Rare Flavours is scheduled to debut on September 20, 2023, and the creative team offers a sampling of the coming narrative feast in Rare Flavours: Tasting Menu, a black-and-white “ashcan” preview comic. The ashcan opens with Bakasura, the fearsome rakshasa of the Mahabharata, in a present-day art gallery located in India, admiring a painting that portrays his legendary battle with Bheema. Bakasura seems amused by his horrific depiction in the artwork; these days, he appears as a rotund, well-dressed gentleman, his strange eyes hidden beneath stylish glasses.
In the Mahabharata, Bheema learns of Bakasura while his family stays as guests in the village of Ekachakra. His hosts relate how the rakshasa terrorizes the community: Bakasura lives in the nearby hills, and each week the town’s families take turns appeasing his monstrous appetite by sending a respective family member to deliver a cart full of food; Bakasura eats the food — and the family member.
Bheema’s hosts now face their turn to feed Bakasura. Readers experience the horror of the situation as the family members unselfishly dispute who should be sacrificed. The father argues that he should be the one to die; his wife declares that the family could not manage without him, and that she should take the food, while their daughter offers her life to spare everyone. It is an affecting moment, as the family considers grim options. But Bheema’s mother, Kunti, promises their hosts that her mighty son will kill Bakasura.
Bheema and Bakasura are fitting adversaries. Both have great strength and immense appetites; their legends are forever linked to food. Bheema’s robust appetite earns him the nickname “Wolf Belly”; he would later work in the court of King Virata disguised as a cook, creating the Indian dish avial. Bheema takes the cart into the hills, eating the provisions himself before Bakasura arrives, which enrages the rakshasa.
In her retelling of the Mahabharata, Carole Satyamurti — using variant renderings for the names of Bakasura (Baka) and Bheema (Bhima) — presents the intense battle between the two foes:
With a thunderous roar, Baka lumbered out from among the trees, a ten-foot ogre, filthy and obese, murderous at seeing the empty cart. He picked up boulders, throwing them at Bhima who caught them, laughing, hurling them straight back. Baka uprooted trees, and came at Bhima howling curses. A furious tree-fight followed, then they grabbed each other, and for hours they wrestled, until Baka began to tire. Then Bhima bent him backwards, and broke his spine as one might snap kindling for firewood. Ekachakra was safe from the rakshasa.
But in Rare Flavours, Bakasura endures. Using the narrative device of a letter written by the rakshasa to an acquaintance, Ram V reveals that Bakasura has been working at a café, and that the death of real-world celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain has inspired him towards more grand endeavors.
Following the success of his book Kitchen Confidential (his knowing commentary on the secrets of the culinary trade), Bourdain became an acclaimed media personality, starring in popular travel documentaries that focused on culture and food. Bourdain died in 2018, an apparent suicide. With Bourdain gone, Bakasura decides to make his own food-focused documentary.
Going by the name “Rubin Baksh,” Bakasura recruits the struggling filmmaker Mohan (who prefers to go by “Mo”). Pitching the documentary to Mo, he claims to know the region and cuisine well — that he is an expert on “people and flavours.”
Bakasura’s objectives seem benign, but are they? The rakshasa is stalked by the mysterious Dilshan and Dilkush — and their cat, Manimeow — who believe he is a potential menace that needs to be stopped.
The ashcan offers a brief, intriguing look at the upcoming comics series. Andrade’s artwork is stylized and expressive; the artist utilizes panel layouts that highlight key story and character elements, while providing dynamism to what is largely a placid sample narrative. Although the preview is in black-and-white, it showcases color sketches that suggest the series will feature a gorgeous palette.
An amuse-bouche is selected by the chef, a small gift to those dining that hints at the quality delights to come in future courses. In that sense, to use a culinary analogy, Rare Flavours: Tasting Menu serves as a fitting amuse-bouche for a fascinating new comic.
NOTES AND FURTHER READING:
Rare Flavours №1 Tasting Menu Ashcan (Ram V, Filipe Andrade, et al.; BOOM! Studios, August 2023)
Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling (Carole Satyamurti; W. W. Norton & Company, 2015)
Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain (Charles Leerhsen; Simon & Schuster, 2022)
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