INDIAN NUT??!!??

"Indian Nut", I heard someone say at a dinner. My ears perked up! Now don't get my wrong, I have been called a nut before. In fact I take a degree of pride in being referred to as an eccentric. However, being called an Indian Nut, that too in a foreign country made me want to protect both my own ego and the country I represent. On the other hand I don't want to be seen as a perfect idiot, so I waited and listened to the conversation some more. It turns out that what I thought was an ethnic slur was a complete misunderstanding. They were referring to the Cashew Nut.

It is not flattering for the poor cashew to be called an Indian Nut either, especially in the fiercely patriotic country of Armenia, forever explicate banishing it from the category of local foods or even imported foods that aren't exactly labeled as imported. Then again, perhaps the cashew could be India's ambassador for Armenia? Lets take a closer look at the citizenship of the cashew nut in India.

When I was young (younger...of course I am still young) my mother and father could never agree on certain words. A fact that they ascribe to being Thekker and Vadakker, part of a long standing friendly rivalry between North and South Kerala. Dad called it "Kappal Andi", where "Kappal" meant "Ship" hinting that the the Indian Ambassador actually arrived in India by ship. Mum called it "Parangi Andi" pinpointing its origin as Prangi, or Portugal. The Cashew Nut symbolizes "The Outsider" in a way that Albert Camus could only dream of. There is a story that illustrates this. The story says that God had completed his work of creation. He surveyed all he had done and saw it was good. It was at that point that the Cashew came to God and told him that he forgot to give the Cashew a seed. It was too late to do major surgery, so God stuck a nut OUTSIDE the fruit. Hence the Cashew Nut is an outsider even on its own tree..... Suddenly, somehow I don't feel quite so bad any more... a little less of an outsider.