Daily Times

American writer, cook and author of Darjeeling (A history of world greatest tea) Jeff Koehler believes that people around the world tend to oversee the effort that goes in preparing a good meal.

He expressed his views during a session titled ‘From Morocco to Darjeeling: Food, Tea and Wanderlust’, which was moderated by Momina Aijazuddin at the Lahore Literary Festival 2017. While addressing the audience the renowned writer shared his travels and experiences with the audience.

“Travel for me is food,” he said. One can learn a lot about a place from its food the flamboyant or calm culture of a place reflects heavily in their food, he added.

Recalling his first visit to Pakistan he said, “I came to Karachi from Yemen, I was short of cash, so throughout my trip I survived on Chayee and Pratha (tea and bread).The smell was so tempting that I could not stop myself over eating every time. Unfortunately, I ran out of money and had go back home.”

While talking about his book, he shared the history of Darjeeling tea, “Tea did not come India. It was actually the Chinese, who grew tea” he informed the audience. The British loved tea and imported such a great amount that there was a fear of bankruptcy as China only traded in silver. However, to overcome this problem they hired Chinese farmers, who came and taught the Indians how to grow tea, hence, the great Darjeeling tea came to existence.

Later when asked about his idle last supper, he replied, “My idle last supper would be a good cup of tea. Tea for me is like time travel a good masala tea reminds me of my time in Pakistan, similar with Darjeeling tea. Tea allows me revisit some great memories I had in different part of the world and I’ll kill for a good cup of tea.”