Archive

Take two inquisitive children called Simbo-Lin and Tiffy-Tu. Add plump red tomatoes, a swirl of honey and a sprinkle of sliced green chilli. Mix in a cupful of rhymes, mischief and facts and toss vigorously.
This is the recipe that Medha Rajadhyaksha, professor of life sciences, and Katie Bagli, children’s author, have followed to come up with a charming book of poems about the ingredients in our kitchen. Each poem tackles a vegetable, fruit or gift of the earth in a way that is bound to appeal to its young readers.
The book starts with a pair of naughty but adorable seven-year-old twins who are running amok in the house. Finally Grandma decides to take matters into her hands to educate Simbo-Lin and Tiffy-Tu — and stop them from spilling milk, pulling out bins and clattering spoons.
"Once Grandma decided
To walk through very slow
Explaining to the kids
All there is to know
About the green gifts that earth gives
In abundance do they grow.”
As we join the chatty threesome on their marketing expeditions and their adventures in the kitchen, we are treated to amusing poems dedicated to the most unlikely muses. The poems explain, for example, how sugar arrives at our table from fields of sugarcane. How honey is made in hives ruled by imperious Queen bees. And how the chapatis we eat are closely related to the grass that we see in the garden.
Loads of information is imparted — but in a manner that is invariably enjoyable. The twins get their lessons about spices through a series of riddles. They learn about cucumbers when they spot Grandma lying down in the living room with cucumber slices on her eyes. And when Tiffy-Tu asks if a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable, this is the reply that she receives:
"I am a fruit — a type of berry
According to experts of botany
But for all others and sundry
I am considered as a veggie.”
Each poem packs a quick lesson in history — from the travels of the humble potato to the story of the Dandi March. We are told that the tomato originated in America, its seeds travelled to Europe with Christopher Columbus and then to India through Portuguese traders. That early carrots were black, white and red and later were selectively bred to become a uniform orange. That Catherine de Medici used spinach — initially called Persian Greens — in all her recipes. And that while pepper was once considered black gold, slabs of salt were used as currency in certain parts of Africa.
The poems are full of trivia and health tips as well. Did you know, for example, that the leaves of the carrot were once worn in the hair and considered a fashion statement? Or that a healthy cow can produce thousands of glasses of milk in a lifetime? Or that India is the birthplace of haldi, and that the name turmeric probably emerged from the Latin "terra merita” which means sacred soil.
Children who dip into this book will find out that cucumber pulp is an excellent remedy for sunburns and can also be used for shining shoes, while a slice of cucumber pressed to the palate can tackle bad breath. That haldi can be used to cure snake bites, scorpion bites and insect bites. That eating too many carrots can make your skin yellowish. And these are just some of the spicy, sweet elements that have been stirred into this enjoyable little book.
SHABNAM MINWALLA

Minwalla writes for newspapers, plays mother to three teenagers, devours murder mysteries and shops for saris. Her absolutely favorite activity is writing books for children.