Week 47 - Food Week - Tassy tracks a year of lockdown eating and craving

Edited BY


G P Kennedy


Tassy - Karachi, Pakistan





 Food and my relationship with it have evolved over this last year. 


 I have always regarded myself as a foodie, relishing new flavors, ingredients I have not had before, constantly experimenting with new recipes, and trying out new restaurants. 


 

This last year however I have resorted to old favorites and comfort foods. Traditional foods I have grown up with. In Pakistan almost all the food we get is organic. Vegetables are grown on farms outside Karachi. 


 We have a large vegetable garden at home, providing us with fresh vegetables for the six cooler months of the year. 






I try and source my meats; mainly chicken and goat meat, from smaller farms. 


With the weather here being very hot from May to September or so we have a saying here that fish should only be eaten in months with an ‘r’ in it. 


 Local food is steeped in spices and herbs, all of which are ground at home, leaving a fragrant and warm aroma all around the house







One of my favorite traditional comfort foods is a dish called Haleem. It is a lamb and lentil dish that is cooked for hours until it almost becomes a paste. 


 It is garnished with fried onions and sliced ginger and mint. It is perfect with hot ‘Naan’ (Flatbread) and some lemon squeezed on top.









Rather than ordering meals out, I have been enjoying eating home-cooked food for my main meals, it has been wholesome and flavorful. 


 I found though that in the first few months I seemed to be snacking a lot. Since we were under a strict lockdown for the first 2 months and with the different COVID waves I had restricted my going out so I found myself at home for most of the day. 


 Every time I made myself a cup of tea, it would be accompanied by a few biscuits, and other sugary, unhealthy snacks. Also with long evenings at home, invariably a couple of tubs of ice creams would be demolished every week post dinner! 


 Initially, I was not bothered but as I saw the weight creeping in I realized that all this needed to be cut down fast! Since then I have been much better about my eating habits though not as good as I was pre-COVID.




One point I would like to raise here as we are talking about food is how impressed I am at the mushrooming of homegrown businesses in Karachi this past year. I’m not sure what has contributed to this. 


 People’s creativity and entrepreneurship skills have been taken to another level. There have been several hundred ventures that have started in people’s homes catering to everyone’s needs. 


 Everything seems to be available, from homegrown Buffalo Mozzarella cheese to the most authentic sesame bagels, to macaroons.


 Advertising has been through social marketing, Instagram, and word of mouth. So much so that even though I was in Dubai just a couple of weeks ago, I wasn’t tempted to bring back any food items as I can source practically everything locally now.



Restaurants opened in Karachi in June but I have been wary about going too frequently.  


 The few that I went to felt invigorating, it was almost as if I had my old life back.


Tables were generally quite close to each other, and although all eating has been restricted to the outdoors, I don't feel too comfortable. 


 Safety measures are followed in restaurants here with all staff and guests being required to wear masks other than when eating, so I'm not sure what is contributing to my paranoia. 

 Food has been the one aspect that has provided a certain kind of comfort this entire year that's gone by.  To some extent often it has also been the one good thing to look forward to every day. Especially in the early days of the lockdown.

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