How About Borscht at Anjuna?

In Goa,you can have everything from sushi to souvlaki. And if youre lucky,authentic Goan food.

In Goa,you can have everything from sushi to souvlaki. And if youre lucky,authentic Goan food.

Food is home,says Svatantra Sarjano. That is the title of his Italian cookbook. He is one of the last relics of the Sixties still hanging out in Goa. And it is a measure of just how many nationalities have made Goa their home. Sarjano himself runs a restaurant called My Place at Vagator,one of the few that is open through the monsoon. We order lavishly and wait. In the distance we can hear Sarjano screaming hysterically in the kitchen.

A good place to savour the international flavours is at the Wednesday flea market at Anjuna. This is no longer the small gathering of hard up hippies selling their stuff. It now sprawls over two acres,with wares from across the world. A sign of how the times have changed is when you find yourself being checked by army men in camouflage,toting AK-47 rifles. Thanks to the huge influx of Israeli tourists,Goa is always on red alert during season,but obviously the tourism minister has never heard the words subtle and dont panic the tourists. Both here,and at the Saturday Nite Bazaar at Arpora,you can get everything from sushi to borscht. The Greeks sell you souvlaki,Italians are baking pizzas in wood-fired ovens,and the Germans have the trade in bread and pastry cornered. The food reflects where the charters are coming from. In the last few years,Russian food has been everywhere. The flavours are authentically of home from around the world.

Goa boasts of excellent fine dining at half the price you would pay for the experience in Mumbai. Author Amitav Ghosh says of Bomras,If this was in New York there would be a line along the block. Bomra at Candolim does Burmese food with a twist. And what a twist! I always find myself slobbering over a fermented tea-leaf salad. Fiesta,at Calangute beach,is run by Yellow (yes,thats her name),a petite,beautiful woman; here the food is excellent as the setting a garden restaurant that opens on to the beach. Le Restaurant has been getting rave reviews from around the world for its French food.

Lila at Baga creek has been mentioned in reviews so often that it is almost a cliché to head there the morning after the night before for brunch. They bake their own bread and make their own mozzarella and ham. If you want to try something unusual,catch a boat at Nerul,go fishing,and then have them prepare the catch at Amigos.

If you wander away from the main tourist strip you can still indulge your taste buds. I make special trips all the way to Morjim just to eat at La Plage and Pink Orange. In Panjim,right where the Patto bridge ends,is Over the River,where you get authentic Calcutta-Chinese food,which you eat on a small balcony overlooking the river. The charming century-old Venite is a little further down. The first meal I ate here was over three decades ago. The pork chops then were for Rs 2.50. I am told they still taste the same but cost a bit more.

My appreciation of these places is slightly esoteric. I will never forget the little old lady at a family lunch who leaned over the heaped dishes of pork and fish and asked me in shocked tones,Are you a vegetable? I had to confess that I was and I have been a vegetable for many years. Friends wail,Vegetarian? In Goa? With all those fish and prawns? How can you? It isnt easy. Every menu has dozens of nonvegetarian dishes. And all we vegetables get is a choice of French fries and dal fry.

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But years of starving at tables of plenty has led me to discover some great places for vegetarian food. Goan vegetarian food? Head straight for Mums Kitchen in Panjim. Surprisingly,good authentic Goan food is hard to get. Souza Lobos has become touristified. Lloyds is expensive for a garage joint. Your best bet is whichever small shack you see all the cab drivers and pilots heading for.

Im hoping that Svatantra Sarjano will provide a vegetarian feast. More frenzied yelling comes from the kitchen. Then what sounds suspiciously like dishes being flung around. Finally the food arrives,followed by a harassed Sarjano. He explains in broken English,I have very very good cook for three year. Always I give her instructions through the waiter. Then waiter go on holiday. Last three weeks I keep telling her but she get it all wrong. I shout. I scream. Now I understand. She only speak Konkani. She no understand a word I say!

The food is excellent. The accompanying drama is a sad metaphor for how most of Goa and the world interact. Sarjano is happy to hang up his ladle here and call it home. But,as the world comes crowding into this tiny state,those who already call Goa home are wondering how they will hold on to their fish curry-rice meal.

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