Spring vegetarian feast at Sarposh with #blahdiningsociety

(And why this was so much more than just a meal..)

When I started doing these intimate meals last year there were many reasons why.

I believe that the real magic in food happens when chefs feel inspired. When they don’t have to worry about numbers and tables, about commerce and what will sell, when they are given the encouragement, support and freedom to truly produce their best work. When you allow a creative person to be inspired, to put their heart and soul into their work, to break free from shackles and rules, the result is often very special. 

Equally, I wanted to eat and share with the world meals that capture the essence of what food means to me. Food is a portal through which we can discover and explore a more beautiful world and live a more beautiful life. A life that is rich in human connection, a life that is filled with curiosity and acceptance and understanding, a life of intimacy and shared stories and collective memories that we hold on to when times seem dark and hopeless. 

The meal we had in Sarposh last week epitomised what these meals are about. It was a meal filled with dishes that have never been served in any restaurant in the world ever before, a meal that allowed Azmat to draw back the curtains of her home in Kashmir and share something that was not just a meal but a lived experience. 

It is impossible to describe the meal or do justice to it. It was a journey through the fresh greens of spring and the sun dried and dehydrated vegetables that Kashmiris eat through the winter, a meal that covered the entire taste spectrum including bitterness and sourness, two taste elements that are such an essential part of subcontinental cooking but which restaurants always shy away from. 

But while the dishes themselves were amazing, what I was left with most of all was the emotion and feeling of the evening. Azmat doesn’t serve these dishes in her regular menu. No Kashmiri restaurant does. There is a fear that this food is too simple for paying audiences. There is also the fear that comes with vulnerability, of sharing something that is part of your identity, your soul, your memories and to have that be judged or rejected in some manner. This food means too much to be put through the instant judgement of restaurant apps and entitled customers. 

So for Azmat to have shared this meal with us was an act of love and courage. To those of us who ate it, it was a moment that was more than a privilege. It felt almost sacred, especially in this holy month of Ramadan. 

This is such a hard time for those of us who believe in a world that is based on love, acceptance and tolerance. But on a Friday night in Bangalore, a Kashmiri Muslim woman prepared a meal that epitomised how our different stories and histories are what should bring us closer rather than divide us, and that if we do, if we choose the path of love, all our lives are immeasurably richer.