After roughly a year away from my blog, I am writing again - this time with a different name and theme:
Spiced Cranachan, an Indo-Scottish fusion blog..
Spiced Cranachan is about culture.
I was born in Glasgow twenty-something years ago and I have lived here my entire life. I grew up playing the fiddle, dancing in ceilidhs and celebrating Burns' night. I say loch not 'lake' and whisky is my poison of choice.
I am also Indian. I grew up taking classical Indian dance classes, watching Bollywood films and celebrating Diwali and Vaisakhi. You will always find me with some sort of henna (or mendhi) on my hands and my Saturday night will always include my mum's recipe of Chicken Curry.
You see, my grandfather emigrated from India to Glasgow in 1945 - the city where my father would be born and, later, where I would be born. The story of that transition is one of the most interesting, happy, sad, lonely and warm I have ever heard. But that's for another time.
There are people who want to place me and others like me in a box. To them, I should pick a side; Scottish or Indian. The world is so full of division and segregation at the moment, and it seems that every day I see in the news or social media some sad story of racism or discrimination.
Spiced Cranachan is my way of protesting this outdated ideology. There is nothing more beautiful to me than melding two very different cultures and finding joy in it. For me, the best way of expressing this fusion is in three amazing ways: food, tradition and lifestyle.
(For anyone doubting Scottish and Indian cuisine can be mixed, I ask - have you even TRIED a haggis pakora??)
I hope to write much more in the coming months, but for now I'll focus on setting up the rest of the site and creating some weird and wacky food fusions! In the mean time, feel free to access my other site (www.spicedcranachan.com) or ask me any questions.
See you soon!