Learn Something Small About Indian Flavors + What You Can Do To Help India’s Covid-19 Crisis — Right Now!
Image: A banner for Learn Something Small with Jacqueline Raposo and a quote from Marina Marchese, Beekeeper, Author, and Honey Sommelier that reads “…you'll see worker bees pushing the drones out. They basically starve to death..."
An Introduction…
350,000 new infections of the Covic-19 virus are reported in India daily right now. Hospitals are full. My godfather — a priest in Goa — messaged that, “India is in the fight for its survival. Scarcity of everything,” he says.
India and her people hold a special place in my heart, primarily because they are home to my dear friends Floyd and Barkha Cardoz. Floyd is a celebrated Indian-born American chef. And he passed away from complications of the Covid-19 virus on March 25, 2020. As his and Barkha’s country now faces destruction from their recent surge, Barkha and I want to offer you resources to help, and a bit of heart-string tugging as to why you should.
As Barkha’s Director of Creative Projects at Cardoz Legacy LLC, we’re moving the $1 we donate from every jar of our Burlap & Barrel Collaboration Masalas to Feed India and Mission Oxygen — organizations working to get life-saving medical supplies to hospitals in India right now. Learn more about them below. And listen to the story for more on Floyd and Barkha.
I hope this slow story will change the way you think about Indian spices, and help move you to feel strongly about doing what you can to support those in India right now. Have a listen. And then do what you can. Donate at the resources below. Buy some of Floyd and Barkha’s spices to give-and-get. Share this story. Take good care of yourself.
Listening Suggestions + More…
I make these slow stories with your body in mind. This one was designed for you to listen to while you cook. If that’s not possible, try to be extra aware of your surroundings and actions within your time and space.
Listen with headphones, if you can — these stories sound better with headphones!
After listening, peruse the resources below.
Now, listen!
(Hit the triangle above to play)
Behind the Episode…
The FC + B&B Collaboration Masalas
Begun by Floyd before his passing and completed by Barkha, explore these three incredible spices created with Burlap & Barrel. $1 from every jar sold currently benefits Feeding India and Mission Oxygen.
About the current Covid-19 Crisis in India:
‘This Is a Catastrophe.’ In India, Illness Is Everywhere: As India suffers the world’s worst coronavirus crisis, our New Delhi bureau chief describes the fear of living amid a disease spreading at such scale and speed. Read in the New York Times
India Covid crisis: first US relief supplies arrive as cases hit new record: Confirmed cases rose to more than 386,000 in one day while 3,498 people died in the past 24 hours. Read in The Guardian
‘We are witnessing a crime against humanity’: Arundhati Roy on India’s Covid catastrophe: It’s hard to convey the full depth and range of the trauma, the chaos and the indignity that people are being subjected to. Meanwhile, Modi and his allies are telling us not to complain. A long read by Arundhati Roy in The Guardian
Image description: This quote from a story in The Guardian: “In many areas outside the main hotspots of the capital Delhi and Maharashtra state, hospitals are running out of beds as relatives of the sick desperately hunt for medicines and oxygen cylinders. Many crematoriums are facing shortages of wood because of the surge in deaths, with each pyre requiring between 300 and 400kg (700-900 pounds) of wood.” End quote. Click the image above to access the story.
How you can help:
$1 from every jar of the FC + B&B Collaboration Masalas sold during April and May (at least) benefits the two organizations below. Learn more and purchase at FloydCardoz.com/Spices.
Feeding India is a non-profit that regularly funds campaigns with a mission to make India hunger free. Right now, they’re raising ₹50Cr to provide hospitals and patients with oxygen and related supplies. Follow them on Instagram and donate to them via Zomato.
Mission Oxygen is a 100% non-profit charitable initiative that is currently purchasing thousands of oxygenators from China and distributing them to hospitals. You can find them on Instagram and Twitter and donate directly via Ketto (India’s GoFundMe).
India Is in Crisis: How you can help during the current COVID-19 outbreak, according to food businesses. By Sonia Chopra and Rachel Gurjar in Bon Appetit.
How to Help India Amid the Covid Crisis: Donors around the world are giving money for meals, medical expenses, P.P.E. and oxygen tanks, among other essential supplies. Here’s how you can help. Information + resources by Mike Ives in The New York Times.
The COVID-19 crisis would be much worse without these good samaritans of India providing home-cooked food, financial assistance and medicines. By Rounak Jain in Business Insider India.
This Small Story Features…
Image: Floyd Cardoz at Paowalla in New York City. Photo by Lauren Volo.
Floyd Cardoz was a celebrated Indian-born American chef, beloved for the warmth and spice he infused into ingredients, his ardent love for sustainable fish and peak-season produce, and the genuine care and compassion he bestowed on his staff and guests alike.
In his over 30-year career, Floyd helmed kitchens in the United States and India, penned two cookbooks, won a national television cooking competition that helped to found The Young Scientist Foundation, and contributed his time and talent to countless charitable events and media appearances worldwide.
Born in Bombay, India, Floyd graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and was en route towards a medical career before he turned his talents and attention to the culinary world — a decision not made lightly.
Floyd passed unexpectedly from the Covid-19 virus March 25, 2020. We invite you to explore Floyd’s life and legacy below through articles published in his own words and photographs taken over the years. Then, peruse his restaurants, cookbooks, media appearances, recipes, and tributes to Floyd from friends and colleagues around the world.
Barkha Cardoz received her culinary training at The Institute of Hotel management in Mumbai, India and worked in the Development department at St. Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City, NJ. With her husband, the late chef Floyd Cardoz, she managed their Bombay Bread Bar in New York City from 2016 – 2019 and oversaw fundraising events for The Young Scientist Foundation, founded in 2011 with Floyd’s $110,000 Top Chef Masters win. Barkha is currently the Managing Member of Cardoz Legacy LLC, where she actively executes ongoing legacy projects including the FC +B&B Collaboration Masala spice line.
Floyd and Barkha Cardoz discuss their marriage and how working in hospitality can be hard on the heart.