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ARTS & CULTURE
Arts & Culture Editor Gem Yelin Lee
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arts@the-peak.ca
Food for Thought: Butter Chicken The traditional dish started with simple ingredients and a desire to diminish food waste W RI TTEN BY ROSHI CHAD HA
Being from Punjab, Northern India, I have many childhood memories of eating my favourite dish, butter chicken curry, with my parents. This luscious curry, paired with scented jeera rice or naan, always lifted my mood. This meal is not only famous in India but in many other parts of the world. The smell of butter and tender chicken pieces mixed in warm tomato-flavoured sauce is mouth watering. Since moving to Canada three years ago, I have tried this dish at many different places around Vancouver but none have measured up to the dish made by my mom. I think the secret ingredient for my mom’s recipe is definitely the authentic curry leaves, known as sweet neem, that add more rich flavour to the dish. Butter chicken was developed by Kundan Lal Jaggia and Kundan Lal Gurjal, who began their culinary journey operating a small road-side eatery in Peshawar, Pakistan. After partition in 1947, both the owners resettled in India where they created murgh makhani (butter chicken) in their restaurant, Moti Mahal. It was a common practice at the time to throw out leftovers right away to avoid the risk of eating spoiled food. However, the owners of this restaurant began using their infamous leftover tandoori chicken pieces to make into a sweet-savoury sauce with lots of butter and cream. This is how butter chicken originated — as a creative and delicious way to combat excess food waste.
PHOTO: Affaf Ali / Wikimedia
It is surprising to see the humble dish, made in a small roadside restaurant, make its way to different states
in India. Since its beginnings, the butter chicken recipe spread throughout the world with its first introduction in Manhattan. It first appeared there through a print in the newspaper in 1975 highlighting the butter chicken dish served at Gaylord Indian restaurant. Additionally, Indian families who migrated to Canada and other parts of the world began to open their own restaurants and serving this traditional dish. Butter chicken is a dish that seems complicated to cook but in reality only requires a few main ingredients like butter, chicken, Indian spices such as turmeric and cumin, and staple vegetables like tomatoes and onions. It doesn’t take too long to make and is a hearty and delightful meal after a tiring day. Butter chicken is usually cooked in North India on many special occasions such as Diwali and Holi as it is a traditional comfort food and a staple in our culture. In current western society, this butter chicken curry is also used separately as fillings for wraps, burgers, pizzas, and pot pies. Although it makes me feel a little bit anguished knowing the dish is getting further from the traditional recipe, it’s interesting to see the popularity and different interpretations of butter chicken in the western world. If you are curious to try this dish, some of my favourite restaurants to order butter chicken from are Sula Indian restaurant and Tasty Indian Bistro.
INTERTWINING IDENTITIES
Hybridity highlights the collectivity of Asian Canadian diasporic experience The short documentary film combats the loneliness of having one foot in two worlds by reminding us we have each other
YE LIN GEMMA LEE / / ARTS & CULTURE E D I TO R
Hybridity celebrates local Asian Canadian artists in their various disciplines.
PHOTO: Kevin Kim / Hybridity
Hybridity begins with an introduction by multiple voices from featured artists overlapping each other — the hybridity of united voices. It's almost as though they finish each other’s sentences but their voices overlap enough to be noticeably disruptive. I felt immediately pulled into the creative direction of the film by this compelling introduction. It encompassed the solidarity between these local artists and the Asian Canadian community through filmography.
more people like me, immigrants who can’t place themselves in either world. We either don’t think about it or feel at a loss when we do.”
artists, my favorite line was when Jace Junggyu Kim said, “I was good at drawing and I didn’t have to really speak. My art was sort of a language to communicate with other people.”
Kim explained the project originated as an idea to reach out to people around him to ask for their diasporic perspectives, but then it settled to taking the opportunity to celebrate local AAPI artists who were also first or second generation immigrants.
What began as a passion project between like-minded SFU film students sparked into a beautiful short documentary that captivates you under its spell. Being under four minutes, Hybridity leaves you wanting more. The film showcases masterful creative direction and cinematography.
“I wanted to showcase impactful, local artists in their spaces to show other multicultural artists that there is a vibrant community of Asian Canadian artists here in Vancouver,” said Kim. “There are a lot of expectations set in the industry on who we are and what we create. It’s important that together we are breaking said norms collectively, creating a supportive and safe environment where we can express ourselves freely without judgement and maintaining the pride of being both the Eastern and Western worlds.”
The way the dialogue between five different artists was so seamlessly integrated together was very impactful. The flow of their lines drifted from person to the next as though they were speaking as one voice, nurturing a collective narrative that bloomed and spilled over. The film switched between clear footage and footage that looked like it was old-film, which seemed to represent the shifting nature of diaspora over time. The footage of the artists working their respective disciplines in their spaces was peaceful and inspiring to watch.
The Peak interviewed Kevin Kim, director of Hybridity, to learn more about his thoughts behind the project. He noted the ideas around it began to take form in early April, where they were in reflective anticipation of Asian Heritage Month. “I was born in Korea but I moved to Canada at a young age, and so oftentimes I feel like I’m in a limbo between both worlds,” said Kim. “However, I knew that there were so many
Being an Asian Canadian artist and an immigrant myself, Hybridity created an anthem of some of my innermost feelings and formative memories. Although I felt relatability and solidarity through everything that was expressed by these
“It’s important that we give space for Asian Canadians to share their work so that we can share our stories without fearing judgement or prejudice, and not let our stories be twisted by the perspective of others,” said Kim. “Our goal with the film is for the audience to understand that they are not alone [ . . . ] they can feel supported and proud of who they are as multicultural artists. We also hope to show those who aren’t in the said demographic what it is like to be a culturally hybrid artist and to raise the voices of our community to the public.”
