The Sunday Haul and Tzatziki

Until last Sunday I was blissfully unaware that there existed in the culinary world a dish that goes by the name of Tzatziki. Yes, Tza-tzi-ki. My limited knowledge of all things gastronomic expanded further after going through a magazine I had picked up recently. I found the most recent issue (dt 17-1-09) of The Times Magazine at Abids last Sunday. It was here (in the magazine, not Abids) that I stumbled upon Tzatziki, among other things. Tzatziki, I read in an interesting article by Alexia Skinitis, was a dish they prepare in far away Greece. There was no picture or recipe Tzatziki given in the article so I guess I must look for it elsewhere.

This was the second time I found The Times Sunday Magazine at Abids during all these years. Also, it was the cheapest I got it for. It was worth more than the tenner I paid for it. There were several articles in this travel special, all of them travel related naturally and more than half of them containing either recipes or mention of food. There was even an article on India titled ‘Indian Epiphany’ by Tim Lott. It is about the writer’s experiences of boating down the Hooghly in search of wildlife in the Sunderbans, his stay in Kolkata and visits to several places that seem to enchant him, and about a trip to Darjeeling. It was a simple, well written article revealing a lot of the emotions the writer felt on visiting India.

There were many such articles in the magazine. There was an article by the writer, Colm Toibin, on his visit to the statue of Ephesus in Turkey. Another article that I liked was a witty one by Giles Coren about eating in the California area where he was traveling. It is always a revelation to me to read about the variety and the quantity, especially the quantity, of food people seem to eat while traveling. Even for breakfast they seem to eat at least six items. I eat two dosas and I am ready to keel over.

But coming back to Tzatziki I guess what with the sort of hotels we have in Hyderabad it would be next to impossible to sample Tzatziki here, and Greece is so, so far away. Tzatziki sounds exactly the sort of dish one cannot resist ordering just to see how it looks like if not to see how it tastes. I guess I have to wait until I get an opportunity to visit Greece. But someday I am going to visit Greece if only to taste Tzatziki.