Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
The Traveller
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2005 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
Sometimes Leonard and I watch Iron Chef America. I like the American version better than the Japanese version because it feels less feudal, and I know I'm not missing anything in translation, and I see women on the show more often, and Alton Brown gives good commentary. (But it does have less grandeur.) Anyway, Leonard always laughs when Brown introduces the floor correspondent, "the Thirsty Traveller, Kevin Brauch." I keep telling Leonard that Kevin calls himself and his show that, but Leonard likes to think it's an epithet or insult of Brown's.
Anyway, on Sunday I was a hungry traveller and I went to Berkeley to eat at Vik's. My MC Masala column on the experience has gone up:
The flavors of Vik's take me home in big and little ways. The coconut and mango drinks and the rice hint that India's a wet peninsula near the equator, with a climate I can only stand in the winter. Vik's also serves the slightly different version of Coca-Cola, "Thums Up," made for Indians but imported to the United States for homesick immigrants.
