The Elusive Elaichi Trap

Having been brought up in a very “isolated” home, I have never really experienced social norms in terms of cooking, living and most other happenings associated with day to day living. When first I tasted home cooking beyond that of my mother’s I was vastly inexperienced and unsure how to react.

Most of us are exposed to food on all sorts of levels. From an early age you are up and down and in and out of friends’ and relatives’ homes, eating their food, experiencing how they live and how they manage their household. I, on the other hand, was never gifted this opportunity to expand my knowledge in the field of anthropology. Hence, I could never understand why certain foods smelt differently, and why my best friend always had the faint odour of moth balls about her.

On entering university my world exploded. As you may already know, Ladysmith is far too small a town to boast higher education. As a result I had to pack up my bags and head to the big city. Like a moth drawn to the flame I was awestruck by the size of the buildings, the number of people, and the ocean! I never knew it would look so big!

Okay, I kid. I have experienced big cities before but never have I actually lived in one. I found myself in a boarding house and for the first time ever I was beyond my comfort zone. Eating food, beyond that of my mothers’, for an indefinite amount of time scared me severely. I remember clearly the smell of the chicken as it wafted into my room. It smelt a little bit like home and on tasting it I remember the twisted knot of dread within my stomach loosening up a bit. This wasn't going to be so bad… or so I thought.

Ever heard of an “elaichi trap”? Elaichi, or cardamom in the English language, is an extremely flavourful and native spice used in Indian cooking. It can be purchased both as pods and in the more refined form of a powder. Many Indians enjoy the taste of elaichi in their rice, usually as the pod. One falls into an elaichi trap when they believe they are biting into rice and instead bite into the pod. It is very unpleasant.

In my household, elaichi is not used in the cooking of rice. Bearing the concept of the elaichi trap in mind one can only gather that my first experience with this sort of rice was disastrous. I remember thinking “wow, something crunchy, I wonder what will happen if I bite into it…” followed by gagging and excusing myself from the table feinting a sort of sickness so as not to be rude. As a result, I am very fearful of eating rice beyond that cooked in my home, and have a terrible dislike for elaichi pods.

Every culture approaches the cooking of food differently. It also differs within a culture based on outside influence, climate, and just difference in taste. For example, one will know never to eat cupcakes in the home of a smoker who enjoys singing Bob Marley “Everything lil thing is gonna be alright, so don’t worry about a thing….” unless they want to get high. Likewise, one should be wary about the presence of elaichi in rice, kheer and other forms of Indian food. Don’t be deluded into thinking it is rice… Indians are a sneaky and conniving race, not to be trusted.