Out of the primal human need and experience was born dance and cooking. When early man returned home triumphant with food, it was met with jubilant dancing, and to this day food continues to fuel the expressions in movement. These parallels have always been a source of inspiration and delight to me. Watching amma cook with her assistances (corp de ballet) in tow was one sensual theatrical presentation in the kitchen-stage. Haute cuisine emerging from the gourmet kitchen of a luxury hotel or a humble home kitchen, the preparation, technique and presentation are; like dance, a sensuous experience. They both are an “ephemeral art” with the “rasa” lingering, if only fleetingly, after much flurry of preparation (mise-en-plas) like the rigours and discipline of dance.
While assisting my mridangam guru in his culinary soirees, I have watched him extol the mathematical virtues of rhythmic patterns, amidst the demonstration of bols for every action of chopping, stirring, swirling – like a gripping tango!
Delvi a little deeper and one would soon discover that many chefs are people with artistic inclinations such as music, painting, dancing, decorating etc.
You didn’t know that? Surprise may be in store if we had to explore the artistic sensibilities of Sanjeev Kapoor or Karen Anand or Americas food Guru Julia Child. Why our great performing badshahs and begums may ne surreptitiously guarding their sumptuous secrets. Dancers go check out your culinary skills and cooking enthusiasts go explore your artistic inclination.
With marketing the process indeed begins, the luscious colours, the crisp feeling of vegetable in your hands, like choosing fabric for costumes, allows for your imagination to get fired and your tactile senses to awaken. To uplift the spirits the recipe can even be as simple – hot oil, a toss of garlic, ginger, green chillies, an assortment of vegetables of various colours and shapes, a dash of organic salt, one sprinkle of light sauce, a quick swirl (chakradar) of the wok with the right technique and timing (rhythm being of great consequence) and voila! You have food fit for a primadonna- no room for ample girth here, only rlapsodic burst of flavours and moods.
The witchcraft of cooking can only be realised when one is willing to be daring and venture into novel ideas – discover the “tantric” or “mantric” powers of your own “nouvelle cuisine”. Dispel the slavery of the trodden path and open the door to creativity, to new ways! I confess I went through a stage where I used five spice powder for everything except the dessert! The people whose palates were subjected to this assault have forgiven me since as I have now graduated through trial and error and many a listless performance, to tinkling their taste buds with “drop-dead-delicious-dishes”!
Every preparation of Biryani is like performing a varanam – the layers of bhava and nritta (abstract dance) like the layering of rice and gravy, one after the other, taking turns, one enhancing the other, growing in intensity till you reach the top, the emotional high point, like a time piece-de-resistance, with colour added to express the camaraderie as the very word “varanam” suggests. The true test will be the capacity for “manodharma” (spontaneous improvisation) – break the very rules you learnt like a mantra and plunge into poetics and allow its effects to engulf you at the table or the theatre and carry the relish home with you, like a rare pashmina shawl wrapped gently around you. It is not for nothing that the oldest known text on dramaturgy, the Natya Shastra, describes the enjoyment of an audience as being akin to the tasting and relishing of good food, as “rasa”.
With some imagination and dexterity thrown in for good measure, you stand to benefit if you follow even some of the parameters laid down by Bharat’s Natya Shastra or Larousse’s Gastronomique – understand the “nature” or “stayi bhava” of the piece; realise the occasion or “avasta”; ponder over the character of the dance/meal…and take pains to know the taste of your audience/guest. And then go for it! Now remove your apron and wipe the toil off your brow. If you are in the mood for some adventure and mystery, whip out the right wine for the occasion. A friendly white, chilled just right or a bawdy red – allow them to sturt their stuff and complement one another! “Set the stage”, create the ambience, crisp table cloth and napkins, fresh flowers, candles, elegant crockery, the right lighting; suitable music, inspiring fragrances; like the right props, costumes, orchestra and dancer in place; and let the curtain rise. Like the celebration of dance, let the celebration of food begin with discretion and drama. Together, venture with your guest; align yourselves to share in the delectable delight of “rasa” and allow yourselves to be carried to an altered state…If cooking is illusion so is dance. If you haven’t already discovered that, you will someday. Take heart the magic awaits!
Shanta Rati Misra.
The writer is an eminent classical dancer.
