commemorating indenture
THE karela at Le Vieux Kreole in Sainte-Clotilde landed on my table raw. Sliced thin as if by a surgeon’s scalpel, it was tossed in a dressing of red onion, chilli, honey, lime juice and salt, and served with Gallic flourish.
How did this proper Indian vegetable end up in the French province of Ile de la Reunion in the middle of the Indian Ocean? No accident. That divine yet bitter gourd arrived with the Indians.
Thirty-two years
