Emelie, this is so insightful and such a delightful read. I couldn't agree with you more. Today's world is so commercial, spelling a death knell for culture and tradition. In fact, "culture and tradition" has been usurped as catchphrase and tagline in the unethical commerce with feni.
Great question Bryan. The interesting thing about that is that everywhere else where cashews are grown in India, it's illegal to distill the juice from the fruit, so the fruit just gets composted into fertilizer. Those states all grow hybrid varieties that maximize the size of the much more economically valuable nut, but the fruit is small and dry compared to the Goan varieties that have bigger, jucier fruit. There is selective breeding going on among farmers themselves and some are grafting these traditional varieties onto improved rootstock, but many of them are still propagating the trees by seed, which in any kind of orcharding these days is pretty rare.
Also…….do the folks who have been making, providing, and consuming feni in relative obscurity for years resent the increasing marketization of their craft and culture (and especially in the name of tourism)? I would imagine so, but I’m curious about that dynamic and what you’re picking up on in that regard. Thanks again for these super illuminating posts!
Ooooh this is a complicated one to answer. The structure of feni making is much more complex than with tuica in Romania, where 90% of it (that's a guestimate, not an actual measurement) is still made informally or at least not sold in retail stores. In Goa there are some big distillers, but many of them actually function more as bottlers, buying feni from small producers in the villages and putting it in their bottles. Alongside small producers who are selling to the big guys, there are small producers who are selling to their neighbors or a local tavern, or sometimes selling in their own tavern. These various sectors seem to happily co-exist from what I've seen so far. What producers large and small DO resent is feni that is sold in retail stores that they claim is not authentic--they say it is a neutral spirit with flavoring added. Of course I haven't been able to verify this, but it is similar to the sentiment I heard in Romania, that if you're buying tuica in the store, it isn't really tuica.
Wow! That’s a big difference! Yes, in the Central European context “home-made” palinca/palinka definitely seems WAY more of a product of and for social exchange rather than economic! Fascinating!
This is really interesting. Is it in fact the case that cashews are being imported from Africa (as opposed to neighboring states)? It makes me wonder if there is an African equivalent to feni. Are there other locations where feni or some feni equivalent is being made from cashew trees? Or is this really a Goa-specific heritage spirit?
There is cashew liquor being made in other parts of the world. I've seen photographs of cashew liquor being made in Mozambique, and I know that aguardente de caju is made in Brazil though I've never tried it. I think Goans would still claim it as a unique heritage spirit the same way that Romanians and Hungarians insist that palincă and pálinka are unique even though they are made with the same fruit using very similar technology and techniques. In fact, the distillation process is probably more similar between Eastern European countries than it is between India, Africa, and Latin America.
I (personally) have never heard Hungarians saying that there is a big (or any?) difference between palinca and palinka. I haven’t talked to Romanians about this as you certainly have! Over the many years though I’ve definitely heard multiple times Hungarians speaking reverentially about palinc/ka from “Erdely” (Transylvania). But There are also complex and problematic overlaps with Hungarian irredentism and notions of Transylvania as “actually” Hungary, etc., etc. “It’s complicated”!
Emelie, this is so insightful and such a delightful read. I couldn't agree with you more. Today's world is so commercial, spelling a death knell for culture and tradition. In fact, "culture and tradition" has been usurped as catchphrase and tagline in the unethical commerce with feni.
Is there any coordinated effort to selectively improve the cashew trees to maximize fruit yield and other benefits of grafting on improved rootstock?
Great question Bryan. The interesting thing about that is that everywhere else where cashews are grown in India, it's illegal to distill the juice from the fruit, so the fruit just gets composted into fertilizer. Those states all grow hybrid varieties that maximize the size of the much more economically valuable nut, but the fruit is small and dry compared to the Goan varieties that have bigger, jucier fruit. There is selective breeding going on among farmers themselves and some are grafting these traditional varieties onto improved rootstock, but many of them are still propagating the trees by seed, which in any kind of orcharding these days is pretty rare.
Also…….do the folks who have been making, providing, and consuming feni in relative obscurity for years resent the increasing marketization of their craft and culture (and especially in the name of tourism)? I would imagine so, but I’m curious about that dynamic and what you’re picking up on in that regard. Thanks again for these super illuminating posts!
Ooooh this is a complicated one to answer. The structure of feni making is much more complex than with tuica in Romania, where 90% of it (that's a guestimate, not an actual measurement) is still made informally or at least not sold in retail stores. In Goa there are some big distillers, but many of them actually function more as bottlers, buying feni from small producers in the villages and putting it in their bottles. Alongside small producers who are selling to the big guys, there are small producers who are selling to their neighbors or a local tavern, or sometimes selling in their own tavern. These various sectors seem to happily co-exist from what I've seen so far. What producers large and small DO resent is feni that is sold in retail stores that they claim is not authentic--they say it is a neutral spirit with flavoring added. Of course I haven't been able to verify this, but it is similar to the sentiment I heard in Romania, that if you're buying tuica in the store, it isn't really tuica.
Wow! That’s a big difference! Yes, in the Central European context “home-made” palinca/palinka definitely seems WAY more of a product of and for social exchange rather than economic! Fascinating!
Well for a lot of people it's definitely economically important, but not commercial, if that distinction makes sense
Totally. Good point.
This is really interesting. Is it in fact the case that cashews are being imported from Africa (as opposed to neighboring states)? It makes me wonder if there is an African equivalent to feni. Are there other locations where feni or some feni equivalent is being made from cashew trees? Or is this really a Goa-specific heritage spirit?
There is cashew liquor being made in other parts of the world. I've seen photographs of cashew liquor being made in Mozambique, and I know that aguardente de caju is made in Brazil though I've never tried it. I think Goans would still claim it as a unique heritage spirit the same way that Romanians and Hungarians insist that palincă and pálinka are unique even though they are made with the same fruit using very similar technology and techniques. In fact, the distillation process is probably more similar between Eastern European countries than it is between India, Africa, and Latin America.
I (personally) have never heard Hungarians saying that there is a big (or any?) difference between palinca and palinka. I haven’t talked to Romanians about this as you certainly have! Over the many years though I’ve definitely heard multiple times Hungarians speaking reverentially about palinc/ka from “Erdely” (Transylvania). But There are also complex and problematic overlaps with Hungarian irredentism and notions of Transylvania as “actually” Hungary, etc., etc. “It’s complicated”!