Homemade to Factorymade
BUYOLOGICAL
Seeds are so trendy these days, everyone suggests to have seeds daily, melon seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds. Do you remember when did you first see some of these seeds at your homes? Just a decade or two ago, melon seeds were a common sight at homes in the summer months. Families bought melons, ate melons and collected seeds which were stored and consumed all year round. Melon seeds were washed, spread on plates and dried and collected, which were then carefully peeled usually by grandmothers or elderly in the house and stored in glass jars or steel containers and used specially in the sweet recipes. No, one had to purchase melon seeds they simply didn’t throw the seeds of melons and put in an effort to collect them. It was not a trend that people were following, but it was a common practice and simply logical.
First vermicelli, noodles, even chips etc, were all home made at our Indian homes. I remember my grandmother used to knead the dough and sit during the day and twisting a little bit of dough between her index finger and thumb to make fine vermicelli and then drying them and storing in glass or steel containers. Vermicelli could be made both sweet and salty though at my home it was made as a sweet dish and my mouth is watering while writing this as I relive and rejoice the fond memories and taste of the childhood days. Sometimes, I used to try my hands too though result was never the same as my daadi’s (grandmother), as she was a pro. I guess most of the grandmothers were!
Interestingly, even when any of my grandmom’s neighbourhood friends came to see her, they also started to make vermicelli along with her while chatting. They had so much patience they could do it for hours. The elderly also kept themselves busy with these activities.
Soon, the corporates / giants saw the opportunity or it was simply that it was missing from Indian markets, vermicelli was introduced in the Indian market. With no social media and modern means of marketing, the strategy was simple to reach their TG (target group) – the young kids. I still remember clearly, they had distributed a small pack of vermicelli as sample in our school to all the kids. So, the free sample reached many households. My mother made the vermicelli, it was tasty. I would not say that our homemade vermicelli was immediately replaced but we came to know that it is available in the market. So, something which was made fresh at home in batches which lasted few days was to be replaced in future by something packaged, prepared in bulk and reached our homes. At our home also, after few years market vermicelli made entry and never left. Now left are just the old memories. Maybe if my Granny was still there, she might have still made it, God knows. This is just an example of one thing; there would be so many other things. White butter was another delicacy that was always home made but somehow quietly vanishing from our kitchens. I have not let it vanish from my kitchen so far 😊.
These are just few examples, of how common, logical practices, where few food items were prepared / collected at home fresh and stored for household consumption. No preservatives, no packaging, no marketing, no delivery required. It was such a healthy practice for families and environment. Actually, the idea was simple at that time, can we make it at home and the concept of no wastage, but now it has flipped is it available in the market, can we buy / order it and who has the time, patience or will to make these at home? This reset has changed the economics and the ecology, maybe we need to reset it back.
This year I plan to collect the melon seeds at home and relive the nostalgia and exercise some more logic and show it to my kids so that they also have some experience and memories like this! We may not be able to bring back and make so many things at home but can certainly give few a try and bring back some old-world charm!!