To enjoy one of the star dishes of Goan cuisine, you literally have to rip the guts out of it. Goan sausage does not make it to the plate in its original shape, which resembles a long, smooth cylinder rolled into a spiral. There is no such thing as simply frying it for Goan sausage. First, the cook has to open the lid and pour the insides of the sausage over some onion slices that have been previously simmered in additional oil.
Those who are underweight may want to add potato wedges for extra nutrition… anyway, Goan sausage offers a sumptuous collection of bites surrounded by a blend of dark red spices. You can definitely enjoy a tasty treat, but not one that is easy on the stomach or for the faint of heart thanks to a heavy load of cholesterol. As you may have guessed, Goan sausage belongs more in the comfort food category than health food… this asset is shared with the country of origin.
Like its sausage, Goa can satisfy your heart and cause you trouble at the same time. Although it is now considered one of the iconic dishes of Goan cuisine and some people call it a must have in every kitchen cupboard, Goan sausage did not originate here. The art of making sausages was brought to Goa by the Portuguese, who invaded the country around 500 years ago. They converted masses of the local Hindu population, who never ate sausage, to Roman Catholics with a wide variety of non-vegetarian dishes made from freshly imported ingredients.
Portuguese missionaries brought cashews from Brazil. As fervent believers in alcoholic sustenance, they discovered the potential of palm tree toddy as a base for hard liquors. This led to the production of palm and cashew feni and, consequently, to the addiction to alcohol of part of the population. Tamarind from tropical Africa, tobacco, potatoes, pineapples, papayas, and two varieties of chili peppers from Mexico were other imports by the Portuguese invaders. Thus, ingredients from various parts of the world provided Goa with a rich cuisine of its own, unique to India, a blend of east and west.
All of this can be experienced today simply by cutting the skin off a Goan sausage. Immediately, the distinctive aroma of ground spices wafts through the air, tickling the taste buds and promising more deliciousness. Normally this calorie bomb is made with pork but if you are lucky you can find veal and wild boar sausages. The minced meat is salted, mixed with masala and marinated. After being stuffed into a sausage casing, it is cured and dried. This centuries-old tradition of preserving meat without a refrigerator means that these sausages have a shelf life of more than eight months.
Goan sausages have to be hardy as local women farmers sell them under the sun in the city markets. Many families still raise their own pigs and use them to make sausages, mainly for the monsoon season when fresh fish is scarce. However, like Goa, the humble sausage loses its appearance of a simple and cheap meal available for a few rupees in many bars and restaurants once it goes international.
You can buy Goan sausages on the internet for about the same price as Parma ham or smoked salmon. In fairness, the prized Goan sausage must be said to meet UK food standards. The original sold in Goa may have some trouble gaining international backing as local food production sometimes lacks supervision and doesn’t always follow the rules… Once out of the country, however, the Goan sausage negates its humble origins and becomes an expensive delicacy.
The same experience can be done with and in Goa. If you book your vacation on the international market, it can become an expensive affair. Many people pay thousands of dollars to spend a few days in the luxurious resorts scattered along the beautiful southern coast of the country. In these 5-star skies, pampered and protected from any disturbing sights, wealthy tourists can experience the sweet life and leave Goa thinking it is truly another tropical paradise of sun, sand and sea.
Unfortunately, these people have not opened the sausage and have missed out on discovering the soul of Goa. To explore the different morsels of Goa, one has to bring some time, patience, and an inquisitive mind. Once the sausage is cut open, you can see a variety of different bits and pieces. There are white butter dice that resemble some of the tourists who have contributed to the wealth of the country. Like the lard, these pieces somehow lack public recognition. They offer an easy target for criticism in the media by various fractions of Goan society. Politicians especially decry this influx of white meat as a deterioration of local culture whenever they need a scapegoat.
Although they bring millions into the country, no one really thanks these people for the role they play in providing a lot of income for many local citizens. They share this fate with lard and its cured form, bacon: who ever praised the health benefits of lard? Ok, maybe the actual health benefits are few, but one should not forget the tremendous amount of satisfaction and relief after ingesting large amounts of animal flesh.
At this point, you can probably guess that the author of this story is not from the vegetarian part of the population. Another ingredient that the sausage reveals is meat. Now there are a few greyish, whitish bits and also bits of meat that have turned brown from marinating in the masala. Like the so-called hippies who arrived in the country and opened it up to tourism, the basis of Goa’s current wealth, the whitish pieces resisted the influence of masala.
The throngs of peace-loving people who came to Goa in the aftermath of the 1960s gave no thought to the Roman Catholic religion and Hinduism that dominated the country for centuries. All they cared about was living a free and cheap life and throwing big parties. For a few years everyone was happy until greed took over on both sides. Some members of the local community discovered that much more money can be made selling drugs and robbing foreigners rather than just renting rooms and serving food. Unfortunately, some of the foreign guests joined them to profit from the drug trade.
Goa quickly lost its innocence and acquired a bad name internationally as a place where anything goes, even though the country is much bigger than these few pieces. Even if the so-called hippies brought a lot of trouble, at the same time they greatly enriched the culture of Goa. Thanks to foreigners, the flea market in Anjuna developed. This famous market displays a sample of products that come from all corners of the planet thanks to business travelers. The flea market is still a valuable source of income for many local entrepreneurs today.
In recent years, various Saturday night markets provide more business opportunities for local and foreign entrepreneurs. Although these foreigners are often branded as “hippies”, they enabled many Goans to make huge profits. However, they are often indiscriminately condemned in the media as drug dealers and rank very low in the public opinion of the native Goans.
Fortunately, we found many morsels of brown meat that has taken on the color of the masala in our Goan sausage. Like these pieces, many people from different parts of India and the world have come to Goa, incorporated the mix of local spices and added richness to its flavor. Many times there is a big fuss in the media that Goa is losing its culture under all this foreign influx.
At this point, one might ask: what culture to start with? The Hindu and Muslim culture that was present before the Portuguese? Just like the Goan sausage, today’s culture is a mix of many ingredients that come from all over the world. Goa has infused these ingredients into a unique masala, which is sadly not timeless. Once incorporated into the sausage, the masala shares its 8-month shelf life.
So Goan culture, often praised but rarely explained, also remains a subject of change. Of course, it is easy to blame the parts of society, which stand out from the masala, for all the negative changes. The blame game is played around the world and does little to provide solutions to existing problems. What Goa needs are citizens who enjoy the masala mix of the sausage. People exploring all the bits of the ingredients that contribute to this traditional meal – the long list includes saltpeter and the ubiquitous feni.
Many people from all over the world could contribute to making this state a better place. You don’t have to be born in Goa to analyze problems and contribute to their solutions. The world is changing rapidly everywhere. Most of Goa’s problems are not unique to the country. Instead of cultivating xenophobic tendencies, Goa could benefit from experiences from other parts of the world, brought here by internationally minded people.
Perhaps the time has come for Goans to embrace all the different parts of their diverse society. Without the blame game, there would be a lot more time and energy available to address the real issues facing Goa. In the end, everyone would benefit from rolling up their sleeves and tackling problems that cannot be overlooked as ever-growing mountains of garbage. One step towards a bright future for all people living in Goa would be to join forces. Let’s hope that the Goan sausage is ready for a new recipe, equally delicious, but easier to digest.
