Ashland Flavors: Cuisines, Culture and Connections: event held in Ashland

Ashland is United (AiU) organized an event at Spice Kitchen (59 Pond Street, Ashland) on April 3. In tandem with its mission to create inclusive spaces and opportunities, this event titled Ashland Flavors: Cuisines, Culture and Connection highlighted food as a connector for fostering relationships.  It transcends borders, languages and backgrounds. The event drew a lot of enthusiasm from residents who are well traveled and aware different cultures. But the sheer interest in Indian food, the regional and familial disparities was unexpected and yet heart warming.

Karen Waldstein, AiU member introduced the event, she mentioned how important it is for all of us stay connected in these times. As an event, it was an opportunity to reconnect with friends and make new friends and all the while learning and eating together.  As we were planning we kept in mind that our event will support a local business as well as provide a learning opportunity about Indian food practices.

Rajashree Ghosh, AiU member shared the multiple  historical influences that have made Indian cuisine layered and complex. She mentioned that Indian food, outside India, is a watered down version of north Indian cuisine, a blend of Punjabi and Mughlai cuisine modified to suit the local taste. In the US, Indian restaurant menus mostly tend to be the same, and the diversity of the nation’s cuisine is greatly underrepresented. The influences from Central Asia, British and Portuguese have brought about nuanced changes in what is known as Indian food. She also shared some eating practices such as using the right hand to eat food (not the left); and food is intertwined with life cycle rituals from birth to death. Words like “curry” are overused outside of India and Rajashree mentioned  how there is nothing that is a standard curry in Indian homes.

Spice Kitchen owner Abhishek Sharma prepared a menu that represented food from the north – chai, gobhi aloo (potatoes and cauliflower), dal makhni (lentils slow cooked with cream), Goan fish (salmon from the state of Goa), butter chicken (skewered chicken cooked in tomato cream sauce), saag paneer (cottage cheese in a spinach gravy) and for dessert there was “jalebi” (a stringy fried dough and soaked in sugar syrup).

Even with the array of food, everyone was able to say a few words about the work they do in Ashland. There were members from the Ashland Town Forest such as Rob St. Germain and Sunil Krishnamurthy; Ashland Democratic Committee members in attendance were Brett Jackson, David and Nancy Rosenblum, Dream Factory was represented by Nancy Cantor and Brenda Hedden. Makeda Keegan, Select Board member was in attendance. Florence Seidell and Rob Moolenbeek founded the Ashland Farmer’s Market and have now moved on to disseminating information about conserving energy and alternative energy sources. Sutapa Sengupta has participated in AiU’s prior events and is a small business owner. She spoke about moving into Ashland and how her family found a home in town. Many others chimed in. Some had just moved into town and others had lived over 50 years. It was a great mix of people – very representative of what the Town is today. The attendees want an event of this kind to be repeated. AiU will be working on that! But for now there is hope in nurturing and fostering relationships with each other and knowing that listening to all voices and perspectives reaffirms the universal humanity in all of us. It demonstrates that we all belong in this community.