Traditional Goan Cafreal, Recheado and Xacutti masalas debased and vitiated by bulk manufacturing?

PANAJI: Bulk manufacturing and packaging for commercial sale of the traditional Goan recheado, cafreal and xacutti masalas by self-help groups and manufacturing units or businesses across the coastal state has ensured a steady degradation in the quality and originality of the exquisite spice mixtures and pastes that have put Goa on the world culinary map, claims a study by a cultural forum.

In a very unfortunate and disappointing finding over the course of the last few months, a study and survey conducted by the Goa Heritage and Culture Forum (GHCF) has found that the packaged, mass-produced recheado, cafreal and xacutti masalas, which are sold in increasing volumes in different parts of the country (and even abroad) are far from the real thing.

The GHCF team that examined several samples of packaged Goan masalas, consisted of eight Goan foodies or ‘experts’ with a collective cooking experience of over 350 years and was co-ordinated by Chef Sonya Kaur.

According to Kaur, a Goan food connoisseur and foodie – who has spent several years in the coastal state, studying and mastering the nuances and age-old secrets of traditional Goan food, most mass scale manufactured “Goan masalas” are a cheap imitation or dilution of the original recipes of the mixtures and pastes.

“The combination of the various ingredients and the sourcing of the ingredients themselves, that impart the unique flavours and taste to the mixtures and pastes is so intricate that only years (over 20 to 25 years) of regular or daily cooking “Goan” food could make one understand and master the fine art and culinary or gastronomic
complexity, nuances and subtlety of the Cafreal, Xacutti and Recheado masala pastes,” Kaur opines.

She laments that many premium Goan restaurants while putting business and profits on priority are opting for the bulk purchasing route and barring a handful of Goan restaurants like the iconic Goan culinary institution – Souza Lobo at Calangute, the others serve a “corrupted” or “diluted” version of most Goan dishes.

While claiming to serve authentic Goan food, nearly 50 percent of the so-called Goan food restaurants across the state are dishing out recipes that are far from the original, she states.

Even many restaurants located within 5 star hotels bulk outsource their masalas, mixtures and masala pastes as their chefs are not fully conversant with the Goan style of preparing the original masala mixtures.

According to Kaur and her team, several Goan self-help women’s groups are selling packaged masalas online and while this is a good initiative to ensure the women get an income and livelihood, the quality, originality and authenticity of the spice mixtures must be maintained.