Sad, sad enlightened fruit |
At the top of many pages in the Earth Water Fire Air cookbook appears an item on a suggested
reading list. Here’s the first thing on it: TRIPURA RAHASYA (THE MYSTERY BEYONG
THE TRINITY) by Sri Munagala S. Venkataramaiah.
If you think that was the biggest mouthful this book will
serve up, you’re wrong. The actual recipes require some heavy-duty chewing.
This suggested reading graces a page featuring an “Exotic Green Walnut Salad.”
It consists of walnuts, grape juice, and shallots.
The illustrations won’t lighten your mood any either — they’re
as cheerful as the one on the cover, only in black and white. The whole fruits and
vegetables they portray are bruised, pockmarked, imperfect specimens which sit
there in the half light resigned to their fate. They will be eaten soon.
Far out, man.
Earth Air Fire Water,
Barbara Friedlander, Collier Books, 1972