I Love MOMO

What do I have for lunch is one of the niggling problems abroad? I guess it’s even harder for me as I came abroad after spending quarter of my life in Nepal. I simply couldn’t adjust to the foods here. While in Nepal having a burger, pizza or taco for a change was a good experience for the taste buds but having those foods as lunch, or sometimes even dinner, everyday can’t be pleasant. In my early days abroad, noodles used to be my best friend due to different taste variety, inexpensive as well as convenience and ease to cook. But now I get sick even with the thoughts of noodles, just imagine how much noodles I must have eaten already. When I looked around I saw similar, if not the same, problems with many Nepalese abroad; glad to know that I am not alone.

I remember when in Nepal selecting a lunch was quite easy, ‘SAMOSA’, ‘PAKODA’, ‘ALU TARKARI’, ‘DOSA’, ‘CHOWMEIN’ etc; but ‘MOMO’ was the king of all. My taste senses never got bored even after having momo for lunch for seven days, and I could repeat that for the next week too. Not only the Bakery Cafe, even the small restaurants, where shopkeepers can be seen applying pressure to stove using bicycle air pump, were my favorite lunch hangouts. I bet it won’t be unfair to say that one of the major developments after democracy was the “MOMO Boom”. People in Nepal take momo for granted and can never imagine how big a problem is solved by it. I have done that and seen many people do that; that is to go to a restaurant, ask for a menu and review it from top to bottom, but always ask for momo. One of my friend (Sabin Ninglekhu) had termed that as a compulsive behavior of Nepalese. We tend to review the whole menu even if we already know from the first that we will ultimately be having momo. I am having a hard time to distinguish either if it’s a compulsive behavior or it’s a power of momo. Such is the power and dominance of momo in Nepal that I believe one with momo as their election symbol can do very well in political campaigning.

Life is full of compromises and momo happened to be one for me. I still can have momo in weekends when I am with friends, but nothing beats momo in Nepal. After moving to Lafayette, LA I was somewhat excited with the prospect of ‘Cajun’ food. Cajun food is very different to conventional American food and is largely regarded for its good taste. Yesterday I had gone with my colleagues for a lunch to a Cajun type restaurant where they served plate lunch. The daily special was rabbit meat so I decided to have a smothered rabbit. When I started eating I couldn’t stop visualizing a beautiful white rabbit that I saw in the zoo when I was a kid. May be it was the guilt of eating a “beautiful white rabbit” I didn’t enjoy my food at all while all other people were admiring the food. I will give a shot to a different Cajun variety, perhaps alligator meat or widely acclaimed gumbo, but never a rabbit meat again.