It is the cashew season in Goa. As the fruit ripens on the trees, the air in my little village smells of feni.
Feni is an alcoholic drink distilled from the fermented fruit of the cashew. We all know the cashew nut - but very few have seen the fruit. It looks like this: that is, the nut hangs outside the fruit. The nuts are harvested; the fruit is thrown away - except in Goa, where they make feni.
Cashews are also grown in Brazil, but I doubt if they make feni there. It is typically Goan, and I commend the locals on their "knowledge" and enterprise. The cashew fruit is inedible - even monkeys don't eat it (and we have lots and lots of monkeys here) - and it is indeed praiseworthy that something so nice as feni is produced from this totally useless fruit.
In Goa, there are many competing brands of feni - and there are also many "unbranded" varieties available (which are better!). What I bemoan is that although Goa is technically a part of India, feni is not available anywhere else in this vast sub-continent of a nation. Having spent a long time in Delhi, and knowing what poor people drink there, I am sure that a Goa-Delhi feni pipeline would be a boon for the poor people of north India.
Yes, I repeat: the poor would benefit. Feni is a healthy and inexpensive drink, eminently suited for consumption by poor people - like me. Indeed, the other day I was lunching at Lounghino's and ordered a shot of urak (the first distillate of feni, which is lighter) and this swank establishment charged me 4 rupees for a 60 ml shot (10 US cents). I immediately ordered another one. And then another. A poor man's 3-martini lunch!
The ban on the trade of feni within India is an example of "real knowledge" going waste, thanks to the senseless restrictions imposed by a government that is desperate to "educate" the apparently stupid people. The funny thing is that not a single Goan politician talks about this. That, I presume, is because alcohol is not discussed in their "politically correct" discourse.
Once again, the only solution lies in Liberty. In the meantime, I am enjoying the smell of feni that is wafting through the air of my little Goan village, morning, noon and night. Eat your hearts out, cityfolk. And when you drink that horrid IMFL this evening, dream of feni and urak.
Feni is an alcoholic drink distilled from the fermented fruit of the cashew. We all know the cashew nut - but very few have seen the fruit. It looks like this: that is, the nut hangs outside the fruit. The nuts are harvested; the fruit is thrown away - except in Goa, where they make feni.
Cashews are also grown in Brazil, but I doubt if they make feni there. It is typically Goan, and I commend the locals on their "knowledge" and enterprise. The cashew fruit is inedible - even monkeys don't eat it (and we have lots and lots of monkeys here) - and it is indeed praiseworthy that something so nice as feni is produced from this totally useless fruit.
In Goa, there are many competing brands of feni - and there are also many "unbranded" varieties available (which are better!). What I bemoan is that although Goa is technically a part of India, feni is not available anywhere else in this vast sub-continent of a nation. Having spent a long time in Delhi, and knowing what poor people drink there, I am sure that a Goa-Delhi feni pipeline would be a boon for the poor people of north India.
Yes, I repeat: the poor would benefit. Feni is a healthy and inexpensive drink, eminently suited for consumption by poor people - like me. Indeed, the other day I was lunching at Lounghino's and ordered a shot of urak (the first distillate of feni, which is lighter) and this swank establishment charged me 4 rupees for a 60 ml shot (10 US cents). I immediately ordered another one. And then another. A poor man's 3-martini lunch!
The ban on the trade of feni within India is an example of "real knowledge" going waste, thanks to the senseless restrictions imposed by a government that is desperate to "educate" the apparently stupid people. The funny thing is that not a single Goan politician talks about this. That, I presume, is because alcohol is not discussed in their "politically correct" discourse.
Once again, the only solution lies in Liberty. In the meantime, I am enjoying the smell of feni that is wafting through the air of my little Goan village, morning, noon and night. Eat your hearts out, cityfolk. And when you drink that horrid IMFL this evening, dream of feni and urak.
Yet, dreaming is not enough: you must fight for freedom.
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