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July 13, 2005
Vishy's Indian English Dictionary: Lady's finger and brinjal
Today's entry features two of my all-time favorite foods.
lady's finger. /LAY·deez FIN·gər/. Any of a finger-length thin green vegetable with a downy covering on the outside and small white seeds covered in a gooey substance inside. Known within the United States as okra. Origin should be clear from the iconic resemblance. Lady's fingers are crunchy and very tasty, especially when prepared with the right spices. Unlike fingers attached to real ladies, they have no central bone that must be spit out after consumption. Unfortunately, lady's fingers are largely consumed boiled in the United States. This style of cooking turns a most delicious vegetable into a green goo with green bits, which resembles alien protoplasm. Fall not for this, O naïve Americans. Carry yourselves to an Indian restaurant and eat it as God intended it to be prepared.
brinjal. /BRIN·juhl/ or /brin·JAWL/. A plant known for its long purple fruit, which is consumed as a vegetable in Asia and Europe. Known also as aubergine in the United Kingdom and eggplant in the United States. Origin is from the Arabic al-badhinjan, which was transformed in two ways in 'downstream' languages. With the al, it became the source for 'aubergine'. Without the al, it was transformed into the Portuguese berinjela (also Spanish berenjena), which ended up in Indian and Sri Lankan English as brinjal. Brinjal is either loved or reviled by Indians. Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine, decries brinjal because it induces tamas, namely inertia, sloth and passivity. More recently though, brinjal has been shown to reduce cholesterol. In fact, an excellent cholesterol buster is a diet consisting of brinjal and lady's finger. That's one diet I definitely won't complain about.
Posted by Vishy at July 13, 2005 09:29 PM