Corey writes:

A couple thoughts about food and cooking here in K-put:

All of the food we buy here is organic and local, but not because we've landed in a Pollan cult. This is the way fruit and veg have been grown and distributed in Koraput for a long, long time. I think these people would laugh if they found out that people in the U.S. (me included) pay a premium for these items.



It's not all sunshine and flowers though. We can see first-hand what the cost of all-organic all-local farming is--farming as our great-great-great grandparents did it. Here, just like then in the U.S., the women bear the brunt. They are the dump trucks, the jackhammers, the tractors, the harvesters. I'll stop there before I start into a gender rant.

Meat! I have been to the chicken stall here, and I have seen what it takes to put chicken curry on the menu. I didn't take pictures. It was a learning experience, and helps explain why "non-veg" is a treat here. Also, the standard form of chicken is chopped up, bones and giblets included. People eat most of the bones. I didn't even know that's possible.

We got a cooking lesson from our new SOVA friend last Sunday: chicken curry and rice! I paid close attention:



We also cooked Baigan Bartha (smoked eggplant) and Aloo Ghobi (potato cauliflower curry) this week. I think my sweat is starting to smell like curry.