Films and Farhsan

Who loves a good movie? What type of movie is your thing? I am lucky enough to have the National Media Museum on my doorstep. Spoilt for choice with films to watch and auditoriums to watch them in! 

For starters, there is the Imax which is the first of its kind in the UK, showcasing some incredible movies. One of my favorites is an amazing documentary called The Hubble   

Then there is Pictureville proudly claiming to be one of the best-equipped cinemas in the world.  Actually, that was the city's old Library Theatre.  I used to dance on its stage - much against my family's wishes. Love to dance! Yeah!  

I love salsa and old Indian classical traditional folk dance from Gujarat and Garba Ras amongst many other styles.

Then we have the Cubby Broccoli cinema. Cubby Broccoli was famous for making Bond Movies. 

But I wouldn't take broccoli to snack on at the flicks though, would you?

My first ever experience of hitting the flicks was as a child to see Mother India in the early 1970s.  Bradford became very famous for its Asian picture houses and our local was The Arcadian. Not always an Indian film cinema but that's how I knew it in the '70s. The Asian cinema house was demolished in 1987. I cried as I  watched the building tumble, such a sad day for me. 

A few of my favourites foodie films are Fried green tomatoes, La Grande Bouffe Chocolat, and A Private Function really  appropriate for this year's Diamond Jubilee

                     

Gosh, it was packed most nights. There was dancing, hands clapping ..... Oh! And that was just from the audience ..... talking right through the movie and shouting out the plot as the audience got carried away. If mobile phones had existed. I dare say lots of colorful ring tones would have joined in too! Not that folk seemed to mind.   All part of the excitement and occasion. As they joyfully watched.

My mother thought the pictures were for those with nothing better to do with their time and money.   "A respectable reputation may be lost if seen there too often."   So the only time she went to see a film was when she went to see Mother India.    She made an exception for that film because it had a good, moral story and was thus acceptable. 

It was never a dull moment.  Fahsan ( snack food spicy and crunchy) is usually all homemade and of course, washed down by a glass bottle of Coca-Cola.  The food was amazing: samosa, fresh chapati rolls (biri),  Bombay mixes of all types and descriptions, a whole variety of Indian snack bites, and roasted peanuts with chili. There was no end to the variety and it was such a great social affair.   Like one big living room!   You would see rows of families and friends passing around tubs of homemade goodies and sometimes the bowl tub would get past all the way down the row so you would get a bite of someone else s food.   My Mum's food was enough to impress anyone. It was even being offered in exchange for cinema tickets. She never took them up on it, but I did!

My favourites had to be samosa.  A treat to which I never said no. I loved them so much that I learned so much about them.  They took the best part of a day to make - preparing the mixture, making the pastry, filling them, and finally cooking them.  
we only made them as a treat food and on special occasions because it came from another region and took so long in the process. Indian food varies from region to region as much as Turkish food varies from Spanish.  Subtleties that we in the west have yet to discover and understand fully. Next time I will take through my recipe....