SUPERMARKETS & SITARS

Most people cannot imagine life without a supermarket and by extension, the absurdity of a mall-culture is given credence. The reality however is that without supermarkets and malls, thousands of small businesses – in particular but not exclusively – in the retail and manufacturing sectors, manage to survive. For these small family-run shops the tourist season just means a bigger turnover but the lifeblood is undoubtedly and entirely sustained through local patronage.

And everyone has their own favourite: their own loyal supplier where they spend their few rupees so that each of these small shops seems to be thriving. The owners however do not drive flashy German imports; or treat their staff like slaves because they are for the most part, a part of the workforce and sometimes even the entire workforce.

In Cape Town most of the Bubbies have long since closed their doors but there is still a handful remaining where you will find members of the extended family behind the counter, knowing the patrons and inquiring after ailing parents or thriving kids. Most of the corner-shops that have managed to survive the onslaught by the retail chains are those where the property has been bought and paid for by wily grandparents or great-grandparents who didn’t see the point of giving money to a landlord every month. The younger generations have been sent to universities where they earned MBA degrees or have become doctors and lawyers.

In Goa, many of the younger generation have left to work in one of the big cities or Dubai and even Moscow. The big difference is that they leave in order to return with enough money saved to start another new small business or to expand or develop an existing business and build a bigger family home; but they are only able to do this because the family already owns some land. Therein lies the real clincher.

And through a devious web of manipulation and free market dictates, the very absence of supermarkets and malls allows for both small businesses to exist and ordinary people to own land. So much for all the supposedly pro-poor bullshit spewed by the ANC and the DA whose policies in this regard are so similar that they may as well have been written by the same author. Net nog warra-warra to obfuscate the fact that its all about economics and stuff the people. 

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And having said that, not all cooks are created equal! Given the admittedly limited array of fresh ingredients available, most of the local restaurants maintain a tasty, but uniform mediocrity when it comes to what is on offer from the menus. One place will have a better this and some other a better that, but for the most part very few stand out. (Just like political parties...)

My new favourite restaurant in Morjim has to be Fish and Feni and not just because they have more cocktails than desserts on the menu. Along the Ashvem beach there is an elevated restaurant called S2 that gets my vote and once again, not only because of the delicious strawberry mojito. In Vagator and probably the most impressive overall is Sri’s Restaurant where we will soon be returning to enjoy the exceptionally delicious food as well as a bit of Indian classical sitar.

The first time we were there, we sat on what could easily have been a stage area: raised and covered with mattresses and pillows with little individual carved wooden tables. After we had placed our order, one of our companions rolled a hash joint and when the proprietor came over to greet, he had a puff and chatted easily about business and life in general. That alone gets my vote; but the real winner was the sheer diversity of options on the menu and the mouth watering subtleties that make good food great. Same ingredients, same spices and yet, a very different taste experience because as any cook worth his or her salt will tell you, it is all about the combinations. As far as I am concerned though, you can combine even mediocre food with good music, and still have a must-share-and-return-to favourite; but when the food is great AND there is a dexterous soloist on hand to titillate ones aural delights, you have a clear winner. And what’s more, after you have over-indulged, you can lie back alongside your table and be transported to even greater sensory heights by the spicy aroma of hashish in the air.