Foodie Crimes & Cover-ups
#29: A 100-word story from an imaginary kitchen!
Foodie Crimes & Cover-ups
The masalchi, dishwasher, and chef all suspected the vegetable-cutter of pilfering some of the spice-mixes for herself.
Soon Memsahib's secretary came yelling, “Who’s consuming all the spices? The Angrez are gone. No taxes to collect. Money doesn’t grow on trees. Such thievery will drive us bankrupt!”
The kitchen staff held a conference. All looked askance at the vegetable-cutter. She denied, then ‘fessed up, “My kids tasted the food here last Diwali. Now they won’t eat anything cooked without these spices.”
The masalchi swelled. The next day he cut back spices in his cooking. Memsahib reversed her stance. All complaints ceased.
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reena | 01.15.2024
Masalchi - traditionally the person who prepared and mixed the spices (masala) in an Indian kitchen, typically in a wealthy, even royal, household. It was a special skill and a prized position at the center of the grand kitchen.
Memsahib - mistress of the house.
Angrez - The British
This story is envisioned as taking place in a grand, imaginary kitchen of a previously royal or royal-adjacent household in India in perhaps the 1950s. The household could’ve been that of an aide-de-camp or other underling of royalty that lost its perks with the departure of the British in 1947. Once India became a republic many benefits and privileges, such as income from tax collection, that princely states used to enjoy were forfeited. Such households struggled to maintain their lofty lifestyles. The snobbery and expensive tastes took time to get in line!
Why this story? All because I’m a foodie, disdainful of all ilk of royalty, and generally live in my head.
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Love it…how does writing these 100 word stories, with their specificity and brevity, inform your poetry and other essay writing?