Wow! Yum! Yum!And all!
BUT what had that to do with 150 Years of the Matharpacady Holy Cross Oratory?
Let’s look at what our Bohri Neighbours believe.
The Quran says:
«كُلُوا جَمِيعًا، وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا، فَإِنَّ الْبَرَكَةَ مَعَ الْجَمَاعَةِ»
“Eat together and not separately, for the blessing is in being together.”
All Muslim sects believe strongly in food as binding force that accentuates brotherhood especially when shared from the same thal.
The Bhagvad Gita has several passages on food, one of which we quote:
आयु:सत्त्वबलारोग्यसुखप्रीतिविवर्धना: |
रस्या: स्निग्धा: स्थिरा हृद्या आहारा: सात्त्विकप्रिया: || 8||
Persons in the mode of goodness prefer foods that promote life span, and increase virtue, strength, health, happiness, and satisfaction. Such foods are juicy, succulent, nourishing, and naturally tasteful.
Food: the adhesive of brotherhood
In all the varied cultures making up the fabric of India food has a special place bringing about communion, a sense of being blessed by God and a feeling of satisfaction. All this implies a trust in the cook, the host and the spirit of accommodation in the guest. The greatest joy of a chef is meeting with appreciation in her guest. We use the feminine pronoun because traditionally food culture and recipes have been preserved and handed down generation to generation by the women of the family. And it is universally acknowledged that there is no better food than home cooked food.
The Meal for Eternity
In Lent we focus on one chef. The Master Chef of MasterChefs. On the altar of the Cross He prepared the greatest Dish of all – a recipe born in pain and suffering, rejection and separation from His beloved Heavenly Father culminating in a Death of unimaginable agony on the Cross. All to provide food that would give all of us human beings generation after generation forgiveness and eternal life. Pannus Angelicus – the food of angels. “Take and eat, this is my Body”. “Take and drink; this is my Blood”.
There is no greater food than that offered Eucharist after Eucharist – the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ broken and poured out generously for our redemption.
The Divine Party Goer
Throughout earthly life Jesus came eating and drinking bringing sinners, cheats, insecure people, society’s rejects together with dissident voices: pharisees, saducees, essenes, Samaritans, Syrians, etc in a round of teaching and preaching and pastoring disguised as socializing so that critics said: “The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” But in the very next line the Mathew delivers his clincher ‘But Wisdom is proved right by her deeds”.
The Family that Eats Together
Food is the illustrative motif or symbol of Christ offering Himself. Therefore, it was all too fitting that the home chefs of Matharpacady to offer, from the generosity of their hearts, the best that their hands and creativity could offer. Thus the Fat Sunday Food Fest was born to raise funds for the Sesquicentennial Jubilee of the Holy Cross. If it was just a money raising venture there wouldn’t have been any fun in it. We thought of the old folk. The senior citizens. Those unable to go to a carnival. The working folk with kids who might welcome a taste of some side dish. Those who might enjoy a taste of something different on a Sunday or Saturday evening and we strung up some lights and got a few party hats and piped some music to lend an atmosphere of celebration that would bind the people of God together. The key intention was to give people a jolly good time even if it was in the format of a food bazaar.
Fat Sunday was chosen for its celebratory flavour. Too often it is considered the day of the last drink or the last extravagant meal. before the rigours of fasting and abstinence in Lent. Another view is that it’s a weekend of thanksgiving of God’s infinite generosity that we would contemplate more closely in the coming days.
Recipes, aromas and excitement
For days before that event excitement filled the air as treasured grandma’s recipes were dusted off, ingredients bought and prep done to have stuff ready for the Sundowner on Saturday evening and the Brunch following the 8.30 am and 10.00 am masses on Sunday morning. On that day and the day before if you walked through Matharpacady your mouth would water at the aromas that would hit your nostrils.
All the food was cooked with love and attention to detail, lovingly packed and laid out and in a jiffy it was all gone!!!
What did you miss?
You better believe that there was a dazzling variety of delicacies – the iconic balloon bread of the East Indians — Fugiyas paired with delicious Vindaloo, Sorpotel, Croquettes, Potato Chops, Panrolls, Sandwiches, Chicken Thai Curry, Salt Tongue, Churis Pao, Russian Cutlet Burgers, Kheema Pao and many other savoury dishes I cannot recall. It’s not a spoon full of sugar but a teaspoon of pickle that makes the dal disappear and a generous parishioner of St Anne’s sent us a whole box of homemade pickle bottles. And for those with a sweet tooth Shrove Tuesday Pancakes, Liqueur Chocolates. Church premises, so the best we could offer was coffee though a lot of the stuff would have gone great with a dash of brandy in the brew or a can of beer. Ha ha!
You wouldn’t believe from where all people came, even born again breakaways. And non Christian friends. Food is always a great magnet of fellowship. Especially when its cooked by someone else’s Mummy (or Daddy, ha ha).
Cakes and More
A cake donated by one of the outstanding pâtissiers attracted enormous interest in an Raffle and the winner was Ms. Ismenia Gonsalves. The second and third prizes of generous hampers were won by Mrs. Lyra Baptista and Mr.Trevor D’Sylva.
Mrs. Mildred Braganza, a lector and former Sunday School teacher made the sharpest guess of the weight of the cake donated by one of the senior trustees of St. Isabel’s.
What needs to be said
Our food festival committee did a great job of garnering support from far and wide so that we could put up an impressive menu. We don’t want to dilute anyone’s reward in heaven by revealing our right and left hands. We just pray for all those who made the Food Festival a resounding success and especially the head of the food committee who did such a marvelous job of drawing so many sponsors of dishes to the dining table of the LORD.
Encore
Buoyed by success we are thinking of hosting encores in other parishes so a wider variety of people could taste, feast and enjoy interesting offferings from the kitchens of Matharpacady.
The Village Market
During the nine days of the NOVENA preceding the Cross Feast on 1st May, we propose to offer all the generous people whose donated sweat and toil made the food fest a success to participate in the Village Food Market titled “Gone in a jiffy”. Limited quantities but a tasty variety offered each day to the fastest feet and fastest decision makers after the Rosary. Those open to taking orders might yet satisfy the slow in motion and those wanting more delectable. What do you think of the idea?
