Xavier Cota treated me not just to a cup of tea (all I wanted) at Tato's in Margao, the Panjim branch is my daughter's favourite. Then, he offered to drop me to the South Goa headquarter's bus-stand. We shared some weird ideas on translations, editing and publishing as we rode on. En route, since I was trying to pick up something, he pointed out a place called the 'Chef' where I saw this packet of Mackerel Molho.
"Ready to eat", "10% extra", it promised, as if I needed that extra nudge. I'm a sucker for experimenting with something I come across in the market. And the package explained: "Michelle's Mackerel Molho is a tasty, ready-to-eat fish pickle. This Goan delicacy is a sure shot cut to lengthy cooking and is easy on the pocket too." It has been ages since we ate this traditional stuff. In today's fast-paced life, who has time to make fish into pickle? When it comes to making, packaging and selling unusual food products, I think the South Goans are better off. And more adventurous This particular item comes from Beau Ideals, PO Bag 1155, Vasco da Gama at http://www.beauideals.com or [EMAIL PROTECTED] There are a small number of other names in the field -- like the more-visible Karma Foods. Tell us what you've found interesting. On taking it home, the kids were a bit suspicious. "Is it spicy?... I've had my dinner..." Personally, it did take me back in time though, to another day and another age, when we were all less "developed" but had more time to prepare food which was more time-consuming to work on. At least when you eat something out of a package (even if it's not so environmentally-friendly), one knows what it's made of and what exactly it's meant to be. Whoever would imagine that you could make pickle of fish! If you didn't know (I couldn't pretend I knew it either), the fish pickle involves ingredients like dry Bombay duck (shouldn't that be mackeral?), syntethic vinegar (what's that?), red chillies, onions, sugar, edible vegetable oil, garlic, ginger, coconut feni (!), cocnut vinegar, tamarind, spices, condiments and salt. The packing is passable ... a nice soft box, but just a plastic bag inside. Caveat emptor: "Do not use the inner pouch if leaking or bloated." Without intending to be too negatively critical though, this is a nice product. I felt it worth its Rs 49 price (for 180 grammes). And as I typed this article in my owl hours of close to 4 am, I got tempted to try out another snack, a poyee with mackerel molho. Never mind the guilt felt soon thereafter on reading of the total fat and cholesterol content of each serving. (Is Goan food necessarily tasty-but-unhealthy?) The other products from Michelle's include a few ready-to-eat items (prawn balchao, kingfish molho, mussel molho, squid molho, mackerel molho and bombil molho). There are also masalas and spices (recheado masala paste, vindalho masala paste, sorpotel masala paste, cafreal masala paste, mint chicken masala paste, roast masala paste, fish-curry-masala paste, xacuti masala powder, vegetable masala powder, chicken curry masala powder, sambhar masala powder). There are quite a few masalas-and-Goan-foodstuffs in the market. Unfortunately, not much publicised... the kind of products that you need luck and chance to run into. Check them out when you're down. Not perfect, but getting there! Fairly reasonably priced too. See images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2252892697/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/2253690674/ FN -- Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490
