Skip to main content

Mourning the loss of the humble Boiled Peanut



I was recently in the Palmetto State; South Carolina, attending a wedding. While I was there, it was hard to miss the signs Boiled Peanuts for Sale. They were everywhere! You couldn’t go past a Grocery store, gas station or Boardwalk without seeing a sign for it. The Boiled Peanut appears to be a South Carolina obsession, so much so that it is named the official snack of the state. There’s even an annual festival for it every September in a town called Bluffton dedicated to this hardworking legume. Seeing this brought a smile to my face, the kind of smile that’s usually associated with nostalgia and fond memories. Boiled Peanuts were one of my favorite snacks when I was a child growing up in Mumbai.

 


Boiled peanuts take me back to our Sunday family outings. All the Uncles and Aunties, siblings and cousins, all would meet up either at Land’s End or Carter Road for an evening out. These are the two sea facing boardwalks in our suburb town of Bandra West. Back then, before the endless distractions related to constantly streaming content, people gathered together, just because. In the old pre-internet days, we counted on human connection to pass the time. Spots by the ocean seemed to be the ideal meeting ground for such gatherings, and enterprising street food vendors capitalized greatly on that. We were spoiled for choice with the vast array of street food available to us; Bhel Puri and Chaat, Roasted corn on the cob with salt, chili and lime, fresh fried pakoras and chai to name a few. And there would always be someone selling plain salted boiled peanuts in the shell. I could sit for hours, happy and content with a bagful of those. The evening hours would fly, all of us cousins sitting in a line on the concrete ledge facing the ocean, cracking peanuts open to our hearts content. It was great for the adults as well, as they’d be left uninterrupted to catch up on the latest family gossip. You could say that Boiled Peanuts were the fidget spinners of our generation.

I’m not sure what happened to all the boiled peanut vendors in Mumbai but they don’t seem to be around anymore. The landscape has changed so much and the simple street vendor snacks are now replaced by cheap, pre-packaged, trans fat laden crispy treats out of a vacuum sealed bag. Kids now choose what they eat based on the ads on their social media feeds telling them what's cool and fashionable. Boiled peanuts just aren’t considered cool anymore. Maybe fears associated with anaphylactic allergies have contributed to the fall from grace, but whatever the reason may be, the boiled peanuts vendors seem to have moved on. This made me sad. Boiled peanuts are so much better than a bag of fried chips. They are even referred to as super foods, being low in carbohydrates while packing a good amount of protein. They supply a healthy amount of essential vitamins, minerals and active antioxidants. Besides, they are far more inexpensive than store bought packaged snacks, and they are so much friendlier to the environment. I sincerely hope I see Boiled Peanuts making a comeback again soon.


In South Carolina, Boiled peanuts were sold either plain salted or Cajun spiced. This was the first time I tasted a spiced boiled peanut and I honestly couldn’t get enough of them. They were addictively good! It made me ask how come we never thought to combine Indian flavors with boiled peanuts. I think they’d be brilliant as a combination, don’t you agree? I think I will take a page from the South Carolinians and play around with this idea. Let’s see what can be done to revive this ancient, affordable, healthy and truly delicious snack tradition.











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Alphonso: The Undisputed King of Mangoes

  For most desi immigrants, travel to India happens primarily  over the Christmas vacation. The work cycle and demands of the school schedule make winter pretty much the only time to visit family back home. There is one huge drawback to visiting India during this time period. You miss out on feasting on the true king of fruit; the Mango. In India, mangoes come into season Mid April and are available until the end of June. Mangoes are the true indicator that summer has finally arrived. The down side for the Desi who chose to immigrate is having to say goodbye to the pleasure of this summer delight. It was a family emergency that brought me back home at this time of the year. Being my first time visiting India in summer in 24 years, you bet I have a lot of mango catching up to do! Many will argue till blue in the face about which mango variety is the best. The Goans insist it’s the Mankurad variety while the residents of West Bengal swear by the Himsagar. But a true Mumbaikar ca...
1 comment
Read more

A Sindhi Kadhi Experience

  Being the cultural melting pot of a city that it is, Mumbai is known for its opulent and extravagant food scene. However no restaurant can capture the warmth, authenticity and love of a home cooked meal. One of my most cherished memories of my Mumbai trip was a true Sindhi dining experience, thanks to the gracious invitation to dinner by my Sindhi school friend, Deepak Choithramani.  The Sindhi people originally hail from the province of Sindh, an area of great historical significance dating back to the Indus Valley civilization of 2500 BCE which is now in modern day Pakistan. This was a thriving community the country’s Independence in 1947. The partition caused the displacement of hordes of Hindu Sindhis, who were forced to flee to India to avoid persecution, forced conversion and genocide. They settled in many parts of northwestern India, primarily Gujarat and Maharashtra, and started their lives from scratch. In just a few decades of that happening, the Sindhis  esta...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ajwain: don't take the name in vain

The first time I tasted ajwain was in Macchi Amritsari. I must have been about 17 at the time and a young student at the Institute of Hotel Management in Dadar Mumbai. I’d pick up work as a banquet server, working for hotels and catering companies that cater giant fancy events for fancy rich people. Harpal Singh was this giant of a Sardarji, who ran some of the best Punjabi food in Mumbai. My job for the evening was to be the invisible guy in a black bow tie who floats around with a tray of appetizers. “Amritsari Macchi, ma’am, sir” was what would tell the sahib folk, all engrossed in conversation. Of course, once in the back, I’d sneak a taste of the goods. The unique floral essence with a mildly bitter finish made my developing mind go “Ooh…. what’s that ?” That’s when I remember coming to isolate this peculiar flavor and understand it for what it is. It was ajwain that made that particular Amritsari Macchi spectacular. Otherwise it’s just another deep fried fish with spices. The ...
Post a Comment
Read more