We
sure moved on to fancy gins and liquors, but our Goan tradition is still alive – Granny
mixing the ingredients for that perfect sweet wine; aunts and mums smashing
those juicy cashews and that aroma spreading across the whole room once your
storage is complete. The age old traditions are still practised by many of our
Goan families. At a time when Goan
culture, traditions and way of life is under threat, these are the unsung heroes of our heritage,
our traditional home grown drink makers
Anisha De Souza from Marra Pilerene has
watched her family make homemade products since she was a toddler. Her family
waits for the season when grapes are at their cheapest price and purchase them
in bulk. Their products include vinegar made from toddy, red wine, ginger wine
and pure coconut oil. While they do sell some of their products, she says that
they make it mostly for self consumption. “My family loves making these
products because we have the habit of using fresh, homemade stuff. My mother
prepares wine out of about 4-5 kg black grapes every year. The mixture of
grapes, sugar and yeast is stored in a container for nearly 21 days and then
strained into another jar in order to attain a rich colour. We do not add any
artificial colour. She keeps it preserved for about 2 more months,” explains
Anisha.
While self consumption is a common reason for
making these products, some of our Goans have taken our traditions around the
world, and that is brilliant because our heritage drinks deserve to be in the
global arena.
Others like Desmond Nazareth, truly a
Professor in looks and “spirit”, were bitten by the exploration bug like many
Goans. He decided to check out the roots of spirits in the West and figured how
they could be made as well in India
Desmond
Nazareth, the founder of the brand DesmondJi found that our tiny world needed
to explore the bigger one. His idea happened by chance when
he wondered why tequila was only in one country. “I’d seen those kinds of
plants growing in India, and realised that we could create similar but new products from
the age old Mexican tradition,” says Desmond.
The latest product of DesmondJi,
DJ Mahua, is inspired by centuries of tribal lore and tradition, crafted in
Agave India’s artisanal pot-stills. It is an exquisite sweet flower based distilled spirit. Versions of this have been made and consumed for hundreds of years by indigenous people in the forest belt of Central India.
“All traditions have their value. Keeping
them is a must; we can create so many new products based on the ancient secrets,”
says Desmond. The company gets the raw materials from tribals and
villagers.
In short, you are actually visiting ancient
India!
While Desmond explores these ancient
traditions with his new products, Hansel Vaz is busy holding on to our Goan
favourite spirit, Feni, making sure Feni will never die out, it never should.
The Vaz family has been bottling Feni since
1982. It started with Wilson and Melanie Vaz in a humble out house at their
family home in Cuncolim, in South Goa. Their sons carry on the tradition and
will pass it forward. Hansel Vaz plans on making more and more people drink
Feni worldwide, but as a pure Goan product. In one of his interviews, Hansel
clearly mentions, “If we Americanise Feni like Tequila, it will lose its local
essence.”
According to him, heritage has no meaning to
the population if there is no context. A drink like Feni in Goa has that
context. “Cashew is grown around the world, but Goa is the only place that
decided to use cashew in this manner. Goans invented it and to invent something
new is always difficult, that shows how much value our traditional drinks
have,” concludes Hansel.
So be it making at home or touring it around
the world, Goan distilled drinks are still in the hands of Goans. As long as we
keep producing and promoting it, the tradition will stay alive.
