Ball curry, rice, and all things nice
Updated On: 23 December, 2025 07:58 AM IST | Mumbai | Fiona Fernandez
As Christmas approaches, it’s time to whet the appetite by stepping into a typical Anglo-Indian family kitchen that serves up delightful wordplay with a little inspiration from their famed culinary exploits
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American Express Bakery’s Plum Pudding. The dish has a different interpretation in the Anglo-Indian phrasebook. PIC COURTESY/AMERICAN EXPRESS BAKERY FACEBOOK
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She looks like a real plum pudding!” My nana (grandmother) exclaimed to the family after Sunday mass. Post her session on the latest goings-on in the parish with her gang of golden girls; this sighting grabbed her attention the most. The ‘plum pudding’ analogy was reserved for a recently-married bride who had returned to Tangy (Tangasseri in Kollam for outsiders) for her first Christmas after settling with her husband of “good colour” in Dubai. Soon, I realised that it referred to her having added kilos since the white wedding and her hourglass figure was a talking point. I wondered if nana meant ‘plum’ or ‘plump’. Despite being silently horrified at her unfiltered comments, this Bombay Anglo-Indian soon realised over several visits to the outposts of the community that such expressions were common parlance. Interestingly, I also stumbled upon the fact that our culinary ecosystem found quirky ways of entering the community’s delightfully eclectic vocabulary.
A recent post on social media by the city’s favourite, American Express Bakery, nudging customers to buy their famed Christmas Plum Pudding, took me on a nostalgic tour, as I jogged the mind to that priceless episode. It whetted the appetite, and made me explore her prized meat safe, figuratively speaking, to scour for more stories. For the uninitiated, the meat safe was the precursor to the refrigerator in most Anglo-Indian homes. The sturdy wooden cupboard was made with wire or net gauze for ventilation, and it could store perishable food items for long periods of time. It stood high off the floor with its four legs set in cases of water to prevent ants and roaches from reaching the food. This term too was derived from a simple explanation: It kept the meat safe. Sometimes, it was also referred to as ‘Doolie.’ Oh, if you’re wondering about American Express Bakery’s star item, we’ll vouch for it.
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