Cooking Metaphors in Indian Culture

Food, though apparently an everyday matter, serves as an important social as well as cultural symbol. Out of all the significant aspects of community life, food (apart from arts) is perhaps the only one that binds while all others separate one community from the other. Food and culinary items define social hierarchies, and serve as a driving force behind people's actions. Food delineates privilege, economic class, and social position. Food is a land issue and a power issue. Food sustains life. Food is a motivating factor that propels action on the part of an individual, a community or an entire society.

Food is part of the cyclical pattern of life; food is culture. Sharing or offering food is the most primitive form of community bonding. These are some examples of cooking metaphors used in colloquial Indian English. We will notice that these tasty tidbits of metaphor all relate to cooking and eating. Beside each word is a short sentence using the metaphor, followed by an implication or conclusion that can be drawn from the usage. (This is, by no means, the limit of what can be said of each metaphor). One might also notice that higher temperatures are deemed injurious while lower temperatures produce more palatable results. Let’s take the following examples to understand the cooking related heat metaphor -

Grill: The lawyer grilled the witness on the stand. Tough questions create a damaging level of heat that makes physical contact.

Cook: He knew he was cooked when he saw his boss standing at the desk. Cooked is caught or responsible for wrongdoing, as if prior to being caught, one is raw or unfinished.

Toast: He knew he was going to be toast when he got home. Anger is heat that burns its target.

Fry: She knew she was fried when the teacher handed back her paper. Like grill, this involves higher temperatures.

Bake: It was a half-baked idea. Ideas progress in edibility, and must be fully baked to be of value. Thought is the heat that develops ideas. (borrowed)

Simmer: The crowd began to simmer down. Heat is activity, and activity is heat.

Boil: The boss was boiling mad. A lot of heat produces a lot of activity.

Flame: I was flamed on a message board. Punishment is fire.

Stew: The decision had him in a stew. A decision is a mixture of whole ingredients that must be simmered together, however incompatible in this case. (borrowed)

Burnt: Burnt by a shady deal. A transaction is fire, which, if not handled properly, may leave one injured.

Some other popular cooking related metaphors are-

Stir: Stirring up all kinds of emotions. Our emotions settle into levels in our minds, the top level is the most visible.

Recipe: A recipe for disaster. A disaster is the finished product of bad ingredients and processes.

Peel: Keep your eyes peeled. Your eyelid is a rind; your eyes are the fruit of vision.

Pickle: That's a real pickle of a problem. Some problems cannot be resolved, as if preserved indefinitely.

Raw: She had a raw talent for music. Talent is only potential, and must be developed (cooked).

Tasty: Tasty tidbits of information. The mind has a palate that prefers certain thoughts and information, and in small, easily digested servings.

Food: Food for thought. The mind is hungry, and eats ideas.

Dish: Dish out more criticism than one can take. Criticism comes in portions that fill a plate.

Plate: My plate is already too full. A plate is a flat, limited space for solid thoughts.

Serve: Served up a number of suggestions. Suggestions are food for thought.

Appetite: Children have an enormous appetite for learning. Appetite is also targeted hunger - children will have preferences in their diets.

Digest: Take a moment to digest the info. Processing data involves breaking down, changing and sorting it.

Swallow: Difficult to swallow. Data that is unfit for the mind needs extra effort.

All these examples are container metaphors where the body is the vessel and the mind is the seat of anger and hotness. In Indian culture the blood ‘boils’ when someone is angry and the head ‘bursts’ or ‘explodes’ when the extent of anger is beyond control. Some one with a short-temper is often referred to as ‘hot’ blood.

In the case of someone bugging, he/she is referred to as someone who is ‘cooking my head’. In literal terms, he/she is nagging me or boring me with his/her talks or company.

‘Cooking’ metaphors are more common than ‘baking’ metaphors. Historically, cooking on fire has been a long standing practice for Indians. Concept of baking is comparatively new. It was the influence of western culture that introduced the concept of baking. Hence some cooking/baking metaphors are borrowed from British English too.

Food metaphor in Indian folk tradition

There are various food metaphors to describe skin colour in Indian culture. The most popular is the one describing a fair skin which goes like ‘milk with red vermillion paste’, which is a very desirable pinkish complexion with emphasis on whiteness of the skin. This is the most desirable complexion for every girl, especially for any brown skinned girl.

Malai, the cream that is formed when milk is boiled and cooled is used in sweets and Mughlai gravies. Malai, milk, and butter have legendary importance in Indian tradition devolving from the pastoral Aryans who measured their wealth in cows. Krishna, the most beloved avatar in the Hindu pantheon, was a celebrated 'butter thief' as a child (Navneeta chora). A major event in Hindu myth is the churning of the ocean of milk (Kshirasagara Manthana), which yielded amrita, the nectar of immortality. Folk proverbs abound, using metaphors and similes of milk, cream and butter.

Curd, variously called dahi, thayir, doi, masuru, a staple in Indian diet; milk 'set' by an addition of lactobacilli from old yoghurt. Eaten plain or as raitas or pachadies or hot chutneys with vegetables and fruit added to it; beaten thin with water and seasoned as a summer drink; added by the spoonful and browned in gravies; steamed with sugar and garnished with sultanas and nuts as a pudding; eaten with rice and rotis. Dahi is virtually a concept in the Indian scheme of things, with ancient mytho-religious resonance deriving from the Krishna cult and early Aryanism; yoghurt was an important milk product for pastoral people and was given religious sanctity as Krishna's favourite food along with milk and butter.

Food metaphors are used by the poets of the Vedas and Upanishads (the most ancient of Hindu philosophical texts) to describe the indescribable mystical experience, which, by definition, is beyond all thought, language, and concrete reference merging into pure consciousness. But these ancient Indian poets masterfully used language to evoke the mystical experience, pointing the way for those seekers who followed.

Nectar: The Payoff

Nectar (amrita) is one of the most frequently repeated food references in mystical texts. The meaning of the word is comparable to our modern definition of ambrosia: that which is sweet. But it also conveys a deeper meaning in Indian philosophy, as the nectar which confers immortality and final emancipation.

The Vedas and Upanishads make explicitly clear that no matter how alluring the taste of nectar, it can only be gained by hard work and right intention. These texts strongly emphasize the relationship between sacrifice and the reward of amrita. Sacrifice can be both an actual ritual offering made by the Brahman priests, and a more figurative sacrifice that can take place on an internal level.

This figurative sacrifice must be made with an intention of utter devotion, with no thought to personal gain. Nectar as the reward for this type of sincere effort is yet another definition of amrita: "the residue of the sacrifice."

The Chandogya Upanishad is especially rich with food metaphors. We are told in the Chandogya that one who can learn the deepest mystical meaning of the chants "becomes rich in food, an eater of food."

Food also reveals how the senses are an intrinsic part of culture. Culture is not simply language and agreements on the meaning of concepts but also fragrances, sounds, smells, colours, shapes, patterns, rhythms, feelings, melodies. An indulgence of all the senses- food- is the harmony of sight, touch, taste and smell, therefore an integral part of our culture and language.