Goa conjures up images of sun, surf & sand for the millions of tourists that throng it’s coast. The hippies, decades ago, discovered this utopian sunshine state and declared their love for it unabashedly with music, drugs and gay abandon.
But for an unassuming Goan, attached to the land of his blood and sweat, more often than not, it’s Fish, Feni & Football that form his idea of paradise.
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A typical tourist to Goa rarely gets to glance behind the gawdy curtain of beach shacks, loud clubs, jet skis and the occasional carnival experience and the ecclesiastical milieu of churches and chapels that also define Goa in the eyes of the tourist.
But behind the moss covered walls of old Portuguese styled homes, skirting past the ubiquitous tulsi plant in the front yards of hindu households, slipping into the Quotidien details of village life, there emerges another Goa. And here you will realise that Feni is entwined with this state, travelling as they have, through the annals of history together.
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Blow away the sepia toned dust of time that settles on history and the stories emerge of the Portugal annexation of Goa that has filled enough history books with tales of war and liberation, of culture and heritage, of traditions and trade. But what stands out towering above all is the contribution of this European influence over 400 years which has left an indelible stamp on the Goa we see today.
And so it is with Feni (made from both cashew apple fruit and coconut palm)
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If the G.I (Geographical Indication) tag awarded to the cashew feni is a matter of pride to Goans and to the cashew feni distillers, the seed of this historic journey was indeed sown with the actual seed of the cashew plant brought all the way from Brazil by the Portuguese traders and planted on the hills of hard terrains of Goa as a means to stop the top soil erosion. It soon became clear that the Goan soil was ideal for cashew plantation, even more so than Brazil ; perhaps explaining why even today India is one of the largest cashew producers in the world.
There is an ambiguous debate about who actually distilled the first ever feni, but knowing the ingenious Goenkar spirit of hospitality and using alcohol as a social lubricant it does not stretch the imagination to believe that in any case, an abundance of cashew apple fruits not wanted by the Portuguese meant that it had started to be used to create the local tipple Feni by 1740 CE .
As apparent by some records of Portuguese settlers, this may have led to a few unpleasant skirmishes with the ruling administration as this local tipple trade may have eaten into their revenues and taxes imposed on regular alcohol.
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But who can blame anyone for demanding a supply of this quaint spirit that defines the drinking spirit of Goa much as a tequila would define Mexico’s.
Feni, an exotic naturally fermented drink is hard to replicate anywhere else in the globe as it is an unmatched blend of fertile goan soil , the waters flowing in from the western ghats, and the air and efforts of the proud sons of the soil.
As much as susegad, the laid back relaxed spirit of Goans is a reality, so is the fact that Goan society has been built upon by a myriad of communities. Traders, farmers, fishermen, artists, missionaries, rulers and the ruled.
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One can only imagine what tales of travels and trade, of political upheavals, of society scandals and gossip reverberated off the walls of the local tavernas, those old-world watering holes where the working class and sometimes the elite or ruling class would find solace in shots of feni accompanied by ambli, sour slices of raw mango or khatichem, Goan bread stuffed with pork rind.
The tavernas are long gone and modern tourism has reduced much of the spirited identity of Feni to little more than country liquor or toddy.
Anyone attempting to trace the history and journey of Feni is by default paying a deserving tribute to it. Because Feni is not just an indigenous local liquor but an ethos that’s unique to the state of Goa, evoking myriad emotions among a Goan diaspora here or abroad. In fact, finding your feni is like traveling back in time to discover the foundations of Goa with its golden years of glory.
Viva la Feni!
