How Arsenic became such a popular poison?

Banjaran Foodie

If you are a fan of Agatha Christie’s work, then you’ve encountered Arsenic poisoning enough times. It got me digging more about Arsenic being used as a poison, how did the world discover this substance, and how did it become such a popular poison while also being a supposed essential mineral for the human body?

I talk a lot about traveling and food and culture, maybe today we talk about poisons?

What is Arsenic?

Arsenic, chemical symbol ‘As’, is the fourteenth most common element in the Earth’s crust. Like most other elements, Arsenic does not occur as a pure element but rather as a compound. Arsenic was first isolated in the thirteenth century and was considered to be a grey metalloid.

The name ‘Arsenic’ comes from the Persian word ‘zarnikh’, meaning ‘yellow orpiment’. Orpiment is a bright yellow compound of arsenic and sulfur. Zarnikh then went on to get translated…

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The Art of Neapolitan Pizzaiuolo

Banjaran Foodie

If you opened Google Search on your browser today – 6 December 2021, you would have noticed the Google Doodle celebrating pizza. The Doodle links to an interactive, fun game asking users to cut the pizza into slices based on the toppings and number of slices requested. But why is pizza being celebrated today?

For most of us, pizza is celebration food, comfort food, all kinds of food. Had a breakup? Let’s order pizza. Won a game, let’s order pizza. Kid got the best grades in class, let’s order pizza. Alone at home and hungry but no mood to cook, let’s order pizza. Finished fasting, let’s order pizza. Just returned home from some place where food was just not palatable, let’s order pizza. Plan to Netflix and Chill, let’s order pizza. We order pizza for just about everything. We all have our favorite pizza places, we are picky about what…

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What is CTC tea?

Banjaran Foodie

‘CTC’ stands for ‘Crush, Tear, Curl’ and it is a method of processing black tea. In this process, the black tea leaves go through cylindrical rollers that have thousands of sharp teeth which do what the process is called – crush, tear, and curl the tea leaves. At the end of this journey through the rollers, the tea leaves are transformed into tiny hard tea pellets – which is called the CTC tea. The CTC tea is sometimes also called the Mamri Tea. The CTC process is an alternative to the traditional orthodox processing in which the tea leaves remain intact and just get rolled, not crushed or torn. The CTC process is cost-effective and yields more consistent results compared to orthodox processing, making it a very common process in the tea world. CTC played a major role in making tea more affordable for the masses and today, a large…

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Go peanuts at Basavanagudi Kadalekayi Parishe

Banjaran Foodie

Namma Bengaluru was all geared up over the weekend and today for the Kadalekayi Parishe or what is commonly called the ‘Groundnut Festival’. India is the land where we celebrate just about everything and anything, and the groundnut festival has quite an important place in agriculture. Kadalekayi Parishe, literally meaning Groundnut Fair, is a 480-year old tradition in Basavanagudi – one of the oldest suburbs of Bengaluru. This year, over a 1000 farmers were expected to participate in the festival and people are especially excited since last year’s Parishe was quite a low-key affair, thanks to everyone’s favorite virus these days – the Covid-19.

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A post shared by Vishwa Traveler Foodie (@vishwa_foodie_traveler)

What is the Kadalekai Parishe?

Kadalekayi Parishe is a Raithara Habba or Farmers’ Festival in Karnataka. It is a celebration of the first yield of the groundnut crop. The farmers from around the…

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Discovering the real Mylari Dosa in Mysuru

Banjaran Foodie

They say that the Mylari Dosa in Mysuru is the softest dosa one can have. They are the softest dosas with a huge dollop of white butter on top. If you’ve eaten parathas for breakfast in dhabas in Punjab, you know that huge dollop of butter that gently melts on the warm paratha. Mylari dosas have something similar going for them. Butter makes everything yummy anyway, but the original Mylari dosas are so delicious that the butter elevates it to a whole new level, that will never make you like any other dosa you ever eat.

On my recent trip to Mysuru, I set out to look for the ‘original’ Mylari dosa. You can’t come all the way to Mysuru and not have one, can you? Mysuru is the birth place of the Mylari dosa, after all. My search brought me to a small but super crowded eatery in Nazarbad…

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Cold Brewing the Darjeeling First Flush

Banjaran Foodie

Darjeeling Tea is one of the most prized teas in the world. It is unique, it is exquisite, it has its own unique flavor profile that changes from season to season, and it is a beauty to behold in the cup.

What are the four seasons or flushes of the Darjeeling Tea?

There are four flushes or seasons for the Darjeeling Tea –

1. First Flush:A delicate Darjeeling cup with floral liquoring, harvested in the spring time
2. Second Flush:The true ‘Champagne of Teas’ with the characteristic Muscatel flavor harvested in the summer
3. Roasted Flush or Monsoon Flush:A bolder cup harvested during the monsoon months
4. Autumn Flush:A bright cup with full-bodied flavor harvested during the fall

The first and the second flushes of the Darjeeling tea are highly sought after and fetch higher prices in the international market.

If you would like to know about the Darjeeling First…

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Celebrating Christmas with Christian Garba

Banjaran Foodie

Gujaratis love their garba. Garba is a tradition that goes beyond caste, creed, and even religion. The heady beats of dhol and nagada with energetic songs can get even the laziest of people up and dancing. Garba also form an integral part of wedding ceremonies. But beyond the traditions, such is the love for Garba that we Gujaratis can do it on any and every occasion, every stage, any time. There have been viral videos about it too. I have seen this happen so many times that a musical evening is organized, complete with an awesome DJ, but eventually, on public demand it veers towards Garba. But India is a secular country, and Garba is a truly secular tradition too. And I can say this confidently, because I am going to tell you about something unique and awesome – CHRISTIAN GARBA!!!

If Navratri is celebrated with Garba, can Christmas be…

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The all-male garba traditions in Gujarat

Banjaran Foodie

Last year, I watched a movie that blew my mind – Hellaro. I am almost a year late talking about it, but well, the movie is so beautiful that even a year later, every scene, every frame is fresh in my mind. It was probably the first time Garba (Both the song and dance) has been used to represent women’s liberty and subversion of patriarchy in a film. It is the first time a Gujarati movie has won the national award for the best feature film. Hellaro showcases the story of crushed women in a backward village in the middle of the Kutch dessert and how they revolt against the male authority and patriarchy. It pits female expression against male suppression. It shows how the men in the underdeveloped Samarpura are unimaginably boorish, lusty, and violent towards women, expecting unquestioned surrender and obedience from the women. Even their jokes come…

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Memories with fennel seeds

Banjaran Foodie

I was at a mall in Vadodara last week. The coronavirus infection cases have been rising somewhat steeply and are keeping pretty high, so malls are considerably emptier than they would be on a holiday. I was just there to pick up some coffee and food, before heading back home after running some errands. While there, I was walking around the open courtyard outside the mall. The courtyard would earlier be full of people, some jam-packed fun rides for kids, street-food stalls overcrowded with people waiting to get what they ordered, and there would not be any space at all to catch a breath. The pandemic has affected us all in different ways, after all.

While walking around leisurely outside the mall, standing next to the fountain, I was admiring the lovely flowers growing on the potted plants. And there, growing wild along with some adeniums, was what looked to…

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Stay fit this Diwali without skipping the Mithai

Banjaran Foodie

What’s Diwali without loads of mithai – kaju katli, laddoos, gujiya, mohanthal, halwa, biscuits, cookies, and so much more. But these indulgences can wreck your digestion as well as your diet & healthy eating plans. Staying fit and healthy in the festive season with so many temptations wherever you look can be a challenge. But, no more. I am here to help you stay fit without breaking up your relationship with mithai. Now, that’s a deal you would be interested in, won’t you?

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A post shared by Purvi / Indian Food blogger (@365daysofeating)

Here’s what you need to do then:

Stick to homemade sweets

Homemade sweets are healthier and promise to be adulteration-free. The quality of the ghee, sugar, khoya, jaggery, etc. used in homemade sweets is ‘mom-approved’ or ‘grandmother-approved’, and use the best seasonal ingredients that are good for the body. Indulge in sweets…

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