BEYOND VINDALOO: Rediscovering Goa's Forgotten Flavours

A culinary journey into Goa’s vanishing dishes, the ingredients that once defined them, and the cultural revival bringing them back to life.

- Gauri Ghadge

INTRODUCTION Goa’s culinary image has long been dominated by a handful of iconic dishes: pork vindaloo, prawn balchão, and fish curry rice. But hidden beneath this spotlight lies a deeply layered food heritage, built not on popularity but on ritual, region, and resilience. As modern menus and global palettes take centre stage, Goa’s traditional kitchen has quietly suffered. Several ancestral dishes, once cornerstones of household cooking, have faded from memory and mealtime. Today, however, a growing cultural movement is reigniting interest in these forgotten flavours. Driven by food scholars, farm-to-fork advocates, and heritage-focused hospitality spaces, Goa is slowly reclaiming the culinary identity that once defined it beyond the commercial lens.

THE DISAPPEARING TABLE

Over the past three decades, Goa’s food landscape has undergone rapid evolution. Urbanisation, tourism, and convenience have led to a shrinking of home-cooked traditions. Dishes that once marked the rhythm of festivals, seasons, and daily life are no longer commonly prepared. Among the most notable lost or fading dishes:

Tisreo Sukhem: A dry stir-fry made of small clams, grated coconut, kokum, green chillies, and onions. This coastal delicacy, once a staple in Hindu and Catholic homes alike, is now rarely served outside village kitchens.

Tonak: A thick, spicy curry made from alsande (black-eyed peas) or white vatana, once paired with sanna or local poi. Once found at every feast and post-mass Sunday meal, it's now overshadowed by more marketable meat curries.