We live on a delicious planet. From peppers to bitter gourds to mustard greens to mangos to the hundreds of eggplants indigenous to Bangladesh - we are incredibly blessed.
Two fruits that are magical for me in particular are dates and raw chocolate.
I think I love dates not just for their fibrous sweetness that comes in various textures and shapes but also because of the metaphysical attachment of dates to Beloved Mohammad and Rabia Basri.
Beloved Mohammad used to carry dates in his pocket to share with friends and wayfarers, whomever he thought needed a little lift.
Dates used to appear in the forest for little Rabia Basri when she used to escape there at night to meditate with other sentient beings (deers, trees, critters).
Chocolate didn't enter in the parables of our West Asian Seers. Wrong climatic conditions for the growth of cacao plants, which need moist soil and a cloudy sky.
If there is one book you ought to have for your curiosity on origins of food and its chemistry, I recommend On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of The Kitchen by Harold McGee. I had this book on my dining table for a number of years just in case something we were eating aroused a question by anyone at the table. Harold McGee never ceases to put a smile on your face. For example, in elaborating on the art of cooking, he delves into it a the molecular level: "It was the ancient Greeks who gave us the idea of atoms, fundamental and invisibly small particles of matter, and also the word atom, which means 'uncuttable,' 'indivisible'. Greek philosophers proposed that there are just four basic kinds of particles in the world - atoms of earth, air, water, and fire - and that all material things, our bodies and our food and everything else, are built from these primary particles. The modern scientific view of matter's invisible innards is more complicated, but also more precise and illuminating. All matter on earth is a mixture of around 100 pure substances, which we call the elements: hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and so on. An atom is the smallest particle into which an element can be subdivided without losing its characteristic properties. Atoms are very small indeed: several million would fit into the period at the end of this sentence."
As for dates, Harold tells us that dates are a fruit of Phoenix dactylifera, a desert palm indigenous to the oases of Western Asia and Northern Africa, where they have been cultivated for more than 5,000 years. Dates have four stages of development: "1. green and immature; 2. mature but unripe, when they're yellow or red and hard , crunchy, and astringent; 3. ripe (Arabic 'rhutab'), when they're soft, golden brown, and delicate; 4. dry, when they're brown and wrinkled and powerfully sweet." Although we only see two or three varieties in the market, there are thousands of dates that differ in shape, size, colour, fragrance, colour, ripening schedule and flavour. "Date comes from the Greek word for 'finger,' daktulos." I wish I could trace the origin of the word we use in Bengali, 'khejoor'. I bet some of you can!
I think chocolate is a personal favourite of Harold's because he begins with beatific enthusiasm and continues for about 20 pages as he writes "Chocolate is one of our most remarkable foods… The story of chocolate begins in the New World with the cacao tree, which probably evolved in the river valleys of equatorial South America. The tree bears large, tough seed pods that also contain a sweet, moist pulp, and early peoples may have carried the pods into Central America and southern Mexico as a portable source of energy and moisture. It appears that the first people to cultivate the tree were the Olmecs of the southern Gulf coast of Mexico. They in turn introduced it sometime before 600 BCE to the Maya, who produced it in the tropical Yucatan peninsula and Central America, and traded it to the Aztecs in the cool and arid north. The Aztecs roasted and ground cacao seeds and made them into a drink that was served in religious ceremonies… The seeds were valuable enough to serve as currency. The first Europeans to see the cacao bean were probably the crew of Columbus' s fourth voyage in 1502, who brought some back to Spain." I think Harold can speak eloquently for hours on the history and chemistry of chocolate.
The chocolate we usually eat is cooked with sugar and milk. But there is another form of chocolate you might like to try, which is ground raw chocolate. When chocolate is not cooked with milk or sugar, it retains the full benefits of its divine nature. It contains a mood enhancing amino acid called tryptophan, which increases your level of seratonin, encouraging joy and relaxation. (Bananas, avocados, durian fruit, pumpkin seeds and pecan nuts also have tryptophan.)
Cacao also has a bliss molecule known as anandamide (ananda from Sanskrit, meaning bliss), a substance produced by the brain after cardiovascular exercise., which makes you feel "high". Another chemical found in cacao is phenethylamine, making you feel in love, beautiful and rapturous. (This substance is also found in blue-green algae.) Not to mention that it is one of the highest sources of flavonoids (antioxidants). Finally, it has theobromine (food of the gods), which opens the heart, increases circulation, provides a feeling of well being, as well as being a natural aphrodisiac. (It may also make you rush to the toilet, as it can be a diuretic when taken in large doses.)
The Hopi say that one cannot be a Hopi. One can only strive to be a Hopi. I think that is a healthy way to approach a path of seeking. In striving to be a Muslim, we become more open to the deliciousness and wonders of the infinite within the finite, the cosmos with the planet - of which we are all stewards, whether near or far.
- See more at: http://www.dhakatribune.com/feature/2016/jun/29/ramadan-dates-and-cacao#sthash.SzLd9fQn.dpuf
Thursday, June 04, 2026
