Feed the World

A trip to

India was my first international trip. I went there and knew that it wouldn’t be my last trip abroad. I’m glad that it was my first trip abroad because I fell in love. The people, the colors, the flavors were mesmerizing. My first trip to India was as an international exchange student through a BBQ festival. That’s right. BBQ sent me to India. It’s really an international month-long festival called the Memphis in May Festival. Each year they salute a country but what the festival is best known for is the BBQ competition weekend. People from all over the country come to show off their skills and be crowned the best BBQ in the land. The year I went to India, it was the festival’s country of the year. I believe the first time I tried Indian food was in preparation for the trip. I can’t remember but we either visited an Indian family and they prepared a meal for us or we met at an Indian restaurant. I’m glad I enjoyed what I had because it was all I would be eating for a couple of weeks while I was away. Indian food is very fragrant with spices. There’s lots of fenugreek, garlic, onions, and ginger. Most of the spices are toasted or roasted before even grinding to make sure there is an abundance of flavor in every bite. Roasting the spices makes the flavors deeper and when you add them to dishes you are cooking, it brings on layers of flavors without being in the kitchen forever. Indian curries are known to be spicy. Many Indian dishes are known to use lots of spicy peppers like cayenne and red kashmiri chili spice. Red kashmiri chili spice is a specialty spice in U.S. markets. It’s not commonly found in your average neighborhood grocery store. It’s not as spicy as cayenne but it gives dishes a bright red color like you’ll find in butter chicken or masala dishes. It’s made from dried and ground