Chennai

Studying abroad always promises an enjoyable journey, yet it also brings several difficulties and challenges. Studying abroad means leaving your “safe zone”, where you have been living since you was born; temporarily leaving your family, your friends, your native voice, etc. to absorb a new world You may get trouble with the language, climate, habits and customs of the country you will live and study. The most elementary but foremost challenge is the local food.

Indian cuisine has been expanding out of its national border and penetrating into Southeast Asia countries. Indians who settle abroad bring Indian flavour along with them to spread it worldwide. I’ve heard that India is a “heaven of spices”. Strong taste and a very strange way of using species quickly magnetize many people. However Indian cuisine in my country, Vietnam, is not as common as in other Southeast Asia countries. It’s not easy to find an Indian restaurant in Vietnam. I’ve had a chance to try Indian food in a conference held by Indian embassy in Hanoi capital - the first and last chance before studying in India. Unfortunately, it did not impress me due to the changing of its own flavour to be suitable for Vietnamese’s taste. Therefore, I started my new journey with an extremely enthusiasm to explore an incredible India, especially Indian cuisine without knowing that there would be a “battle” waiting for me forwards.

My destination was Tamil Nadu which is a traditional centre of Southeast India. After a daylong on plane, Chennai welcomed me by a “shock culture”, hit me by heat and noise, dust and dirt to make me understand the real meaning of “Life as we know it”. Let me give a preference to the struggling with Tamil’s food of an international student.

THE FIRST NIGHTMARE CALLED MASALA.

I wouldn’t say that masala is bad but not tasty for me even I’ve been living here for more than one year. As I’ve said, India is a kingdom of spices that made the significant of using various spices in cooking that gave the birth to the soul of Indian cuisine: masala. Made by the blend of spices which can be a dry mixture or a paste, masala is used widely in many Indian dishes. Unluckily, masala might not be made for me. I distinctly remember the first time I tried chicken masala and couldn’t bear its pungency. I did not understand why people liked such a strong-tasting spice mix. The combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, mace, peppercorns, coriander and cumin was just overpowering for me. After that, I always said no with everything containing masala.

THE FEAR OF SPICY AND SALTY FOODS

Most of Indian dishes are spicy that can make me cry over the plate and the fact that Indians like to put too much salt in their dishes. I am not a crazy fan of both these things. An “abracadabra” I always use when order food at any restaurant is “no spicy and less salt, please”. Once when I ordered a plate of chicken fried noodle and “no spicy and less salt” as usual, then they gave me a dish completely without salt. Another time I was served the spiciest dish so far. That biriyani seemed to burn my tongue and made me cry, in its literal sense, while eating.

MIXED RICE RECIPES

I will never forget the first time at the college canteen as my friend offered me a plate of curd rice. The first is the last! Contrary to Vietnam where people eat mostly stream rice in daily meal (we cook rice with only water), Indians often mix rice with other materials such as yogurt, lemon, coconut milk, etc. It took me a few months to get used to various types of Indian rice recipes though I just enjoyed sambar rice. My mind always respects the variety of cuisine however it cannot control my “tongue”.

STUCK WITH VEGETARIAN FOOD

Vegetarian food in Vietnam is not as popular as in India and I myself am not a vegetarian. It is difficult to find good restaurants in Chennai which offer non veg food. Mostly you end up having veg food like “South Indian thali”, for lack of choice. Veg-food was the major reason that I would rather have rented a room than college hostel though it was far more expensive. Last time I travelled to Pondicherry with my friend. This might be amazing trip with fabulous landscape, extremely clean air, nice resort except only one thing – only vegetarian food was served. I had to sleep with a roaring stomach.

LACKING OF NATIVE MATERIALS

Besides trying to adapt local food, I cook Vietnamese meals at home using similar materials that I often used in my native land. Nonetheless, it isn’t always easy to find all the necessary things. Vietnamese is used to using a kind of fish sauce called “nước mắm” in every dish. The fact is that every Vietnamese people living far away usually miss the taste which becomes a habit. For the first year, I didn’t know that impossible to get Vietnamese fish sauce in Chennai (there was only Thai product which is very expensive). Put down the first year to experience, I spent one quarter of my luggage to carry fish sauce from Vietnam. The same reality happened to other materials such as vegetable or fruit. There was always a piece of happiness blowing in my heart as I found down a familiar thing that associated with my hometown in a strange city.

USING HAND FOR EATING

It was so exciting since I know the profound sense of using (right) hand for eating in India. However I cannot gainsay that it was a part of shock culture for me at first. In my country, most food, including rice, noodle or savoury pastry involves the use of chopsticks. Vietnamese children started learning to use chopstick since they was just 3 or 4 year-old. Imperceptibly, chopstick became a close friend for their whole file. Thus I usually carried a pair of chopstick or asked for a spoon whenever I ate out.

TRY EVERYTHING TWICE

Such a big lessons that Chennai life has taught me for nearly two years. You should try and try every dish at least twice. The first time is to taste a new flavour and the second is to start to appreciate. Because a new thing might be not easy to adapt at first, if you try only one time then dislike, you may miss a chance to feel how it really delicious.. I didn’t use to like masala but now, not all but some kinds of masala, I do. I didn’t use to eat spicy food, yet now I am crazy fan of biriyani and chicken 65 masala. I didn’t use to be fond of eating by hand but now I can rejoice to taste my friend’s food by exactly the way they are eating. I didn’t get used to mixed rice recipes yet now I enjoy sambar rice.  More important, everything may not like how they look.

I am almost there – the end of my two-year journey in India. Overcoming all the challenge with not only Indian food but also other aspects of an international student’s life, the rest may be a most memorable time in my life.