Cuisine of the Indentured Labourers & Seven Curries

Jan 17, 2025 Letters

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Dear Editor,

President Irfaan Ali made brief comments on social media about the popular seven curries and how they were initially prepared by the indentured or how the foods came about. I was in India at the time attending the PBD 2025. I spoke at a seminar at a university on Indians in the Caribbean – an Anthropological presentation and there were questions on Indian cuisine in Guyana. I learned a lot about food in the villages of India and that would have been consumed by the peasants and the indentured before they left for the Caribbean. The foods are similar although in India, foods are richer in spices that are difficult to tolerate by Indo-Caribbeans.

Seven curries as “is” (group of dishes) known today, a term for foods served in Guyana after a Hindu religious function, were not a part of the diet of or that was served by Hindus and that did not become popular in Guyana until the 1990s, some seven decades after indentureship was abolished on January 1, 1920. Foods of the indentured laborers (girmityas) were similar to those of the peasants in rural India. The food habits in India were transplanted in the new society and have been continued by the descendants. Seven curries was not part of the diet.

It is not clear how the term seven curry emerged in Guyana and is used only in Guyana, not in the rest of the Indian diaspora. It was not in vogue in Guyana up until the 1990s. And it is still not used in certain parts of the country among Hindus. The term generally used for a Hindu religious event for the meal served is bhoj or bhojan. Even in USA or Canada or UK, seven curries is not used; it is bhojan. In India, it is maha bhoj. It is served after a puja or Hindu wedding. The scriptures mention certain food items. And it does not have to be seven curries. Most Hindu functions have many more dishes and some may have less. Pujas I attended in urban India had more than seven curries and in the rural villages some had only four or five. I sponsored bhojs in India with only four or five dishes.

The President unintentionally misspoke., making fundamental errors in food preparation by the indentured or the peasants of India; contrary to what he stated, very few foods were steamed. And only a few items were roasted as when making chowkah and sada or sakey roti.

The indentured received rations from the planters that included tale or oil, rice, flour, dhal, onion, garlic, among, other items. So oil would have been used for meal preparation. The indentured  grew some commonly used kitchen items for seasoning and for access to vegetables. The indentured had to budget themselves how much food was to be prepared or consumed and the oil and other items used. They had to purchase items not available from the ration or if used out before the next month’s rations. All vegetables were prepared using oil or tale. Only certain foods were cooked with a ghee base. And no tasty or delicious vegetables were cooked without oil.

The foods consumed in the villages were not of seven vegetables. People ate what they grew on their small plots of land. This writer visited several villages and observed farming (tilling and cultivation) as well as harvesting. Crops were rotated.

There were not many varieties of food during the 1800s. Trade was not very common because of primitive means of transportation. The introduction of railways by the British led to cultural diffusion – in which there was access to greater varieties of vegetables all year round especially during the 1900s. And as President Irfaan Ali rightly stated, ghee was not commonly used as a staple because of affordability. But certain foods needed ghee for preparation – mohanbhog and kheer. Mustard oil and coconut oil was used for cooking. Ghee was needed for religious rituals and put in a few foods as a luxury item to add to taste.

The food or cooking habits has not changed much from the 1800s to today among the poorer class of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh from where the bulk of indentureds to Guyana. The indentureds (from the north — Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) or those shipped out of Kolkata (Calcutta) had slightly different food habits or cuisine than the indentureds from the south (Madras, now Chennai). But dhal, rice, roti or puri (variety of rotis), and subzi (sabjhi) or vegetables were standard and common for all. Dhal, rice, and roti were staples.

India has two main seasons and different foods are grown in each and in different areas. In the winter, in the north, there was or is wheat and various dhals. Rice is grown all year round in south and warm rainy season in the north. The indentureds used yellow dhal. There were various other dhals in the north including moong, urad, masoor, among others. They fetched different prices in today’s markets.

The home grown vegetables or subzi were baigan (various types), cauliflower, cabbage, parwo (not grown in Guyana), various bhajjie (mustard, poi, chowrai,etc.), green peas (winter), bindi or ochro, lauki or squash, karela, pumpkin, chilli or hot pepper, saijan, carrots or gajjar, sweet potatoes or kand (all year), channa, alou or potatoes (winter), radish or mooli, nenwah, jingi, banana,  or mango pickles, lemon pickles, katahal or jack fruit or katahar, bora or bodi or long beans, onions, garlic, among others.

Ultimately, the type of food (vegetables cooked) depended on affordability. Bananas were not readily grown in north; it was a south dish that is now common in the north and also cooked in Guyana. Tomatoes came much later as a traded food item; now it is widely grown in north in the non-winter months. Kitchri was and still is very popular all over the country including in Guyana. Satoo or satwa (seven grounded uncooked grains) was popular; a dried dish on which is added water or milk and was popuar in Guyana thru the 1970s. Some may add sugar or spices; it is quite nutritious as it is all protein. Sugar cane was used to make jaggery or gud (gudra) that is used to make sweets or mitai.  Rice and corn were used to make lawah or bhuj that was very popular (dried snacks) which was often mixed with masala, onion, etc. or even sugar. Nuts were also grown among the peasants.

Every peasant had cattle (cows, buffalo, goat, etc.) that was used to tend the field. Milk was traded or exchanged. If one had a few cattle, one was prosperous. Many indentured had cattle. From the cattle, milk was obtained that was used to make paneer, dahi, ghee, sweet rice or kheer. Home ghee is very tasty, quite different from commercially sold ghee. Many made coconut oil which was used to prepare vegetables. Certain foods needed ghee like mohanbhog or milk like kheer. Puja needed ghee as do varied rituals involving birth, janao or christening, marriage, and death.

Although there are greater varieties of foods today, the staples remain the same in the rural villages of the Bhojpuri belt and in Tamil Nadu and in other states. Food is still cooked with oil (now there is a variety like mustard, corn, sunflower, etc.) and greater use of ghee. Ghee was not commonly used because of affordability. Ghee was not recommended as a staple. Desi ghee was poured in or in some items for flavor. Fried puri was very popular. It was a delicacy. Small quantity of oil was used to make a curried vegetable. Puri was cooked in oil, at times mixed with ghee. Dhal and roti was popular as an evening meal and remains so till this day. All types of vegetable chowkah are consumed with baigan the most popular that goes with dhal and rice and roti. Mangoes and other fruits were used in pickles that go well with curries.

In the Bhojpuri belt, Litti or thick roti was made – comprising different grounded grains and millets, wheat, corn, and various dhals. This roti could last for days without spoiling. Kitchri (rice cooked with dhal, grains and various seasonings) was also popular with the indentured and is so till this day among the descendants and all over India.

In terms of fruits, the most popular ones were: guava or amrut, different kinds of melon (water, bus, foont or long), mangoes, lemon, bananas, ganna or sugar canes. The cane juice was boiled to make jaggery or gud (pronounced gudara).  Various sweets were also made sweets from juice. Vinegar was made from sugar cane juice and used in meal preparation or to make pickles. The delectable food habits of the rural peasants that were transplanted by the indentured in Guyana and indeed through the diaspora are now enjoyed by other ethnic groups.

Yours truly,

Vishnu Bisram

(Cuisine of the Indentured Labourers & Seven Curries)

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• chowkah, indentured labourers, Kolkata, Seven Curries, Vegetables

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