A LIFE OF SPICE
SOMEWHERE between backwater and jungle our driver, Babu Vattathara, asked Brandon what he loves to cook in South Africa. Brandon took great pleasure in describing his ritual: source the best possible pasture-reared beef rump, season it with sea salt and cook it to perfection over coals. To which an incredulous Babu responded, “And this is delicious?”
To Babu, cooking without spice is inconceivable. It’s what Kerala, the tropical south Indian state we were travelling through, is built on. In an organic spice garden we learned that pepper is the king of spice, cardamom the queen, vanilla the prince and saffron the princess. This is the “royal family” that ties Kerala to Cape Town through the Dutch East India Company. The cardamom pods I purchased are plump and green, not ashy-beige, and serve as a benchmark for
