Koba and Calle 13

[asakiyume]

I've seen banana leaves on banana trees, so I know they're big, but somehow I was still amazed to thaw out a package of them and see how they take over a kitchen, like really large caterpillars or space snakes.





I used some of them to make koba, a Malagasy sweet:

in the pot, getting ready to be steamed


finished product


I've never had the real thing, so I don't know how well mine approximated it, but it *looked* right, and it tasted good.

... Eating food from faraway places is one way to bring them a little closer.

Music is another great way. This song, "Latinoamérica," by Calle 13, is powerful stuff (I'm on a Calle 13 kick right now), and the video is just incredibly beautiful, showing faces of people from all over Latin America. At the start, the radio announcer switches from Spanish to Quecha, and about two-thirds of the way through, the chorus gets sung in Portuguese. Powerful stuff.

"Calle 13 - Latinoamérica" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

[minoanmiss]

*alugh at myself* The banana leaves made me cry unexpectedly with nostalgia. Not that they're used much for cooking in Jamaica (the slow barbecuing that used to be done in banana leaves is now done by other methods) but I remember banana trees and their massive beautiful leaves from my childhood.. I remember just standing beneath and stroking the leaves, the tactile experience..

You always bring us so much beauty. Thank you.

[asakiyume]

Awww! I can imagine that so, so clearly! If I had grown up with banana trees, I would have wanted to stroke their leaves too. As it was, when I first got to be near them in person, I just wanted to stand by them in awe.