Eastern Aromatics

The night before Diwali, I found myself in the countryside outside of Delhi, picking marigolds with local farmers. After loading the sacks of fresh flowers onto the trucks, we drove into town. When we reached the city, they unpacked the huge bags and just dropped them onto the street, filling the area with this amazing floral scent. Hundreds of people ran out from all the different market stalls to pick up the marigolds. I noticed that these same locals were trading garlands of flowers for spices. They were cooking up a storm on the street and I could see bakers sprinkling cumin seeds, which had been crushed with a pestle and mortar to release that strong, herb-like scent, onto naan bread. The smell of cardamom was also prevalent from the cooking pots. Whenever I smell that pungent spice, I’m immediately taken back to that Indian street market, with its buzz of activity and heady brew of scents.