Food and music - the analogies between Indian music and food

When I arrived in Birmingham, I was told that the Indian food here is very famous. Don't ask me why isn't British cuisine - I don't know. I cook a lot, it is enjoyable (and to my finance). Thinking of cooking and composition, they have a lot in common. The article "Why Hindustani Musicians are Good Cooks: Analogies between Music and Food in North India" by Adrian McNeil is a good explanation of that. The title is very self-explaining.

According to McNeil, when you cook you have to identify the Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary ingredients. For chicken tikka masala, a very famous Indian dish invented in the UK. I reference the BBC recipe, hope it is better than fried rice.
  • Primary ingredients - Chicken, red peppers, onions, mango chutney, tomatoes
  • Secondary ingredients - tikka masala paste, double cream, yogurt
  • Tertiary ingredients - ginger, garlic, oil, butter
In Indian music that McNeil suggests
  • Primary - basic scale, mode.
  • Secondary - vadi (the note of a rag requiring greatest emphasis); samvydl (the note requiring second greatest emphasis); chalan(outlines hierarchy of notes); pakad (characteristic phrase[s]). 
  • Tertiary - gamaks (ornamentation); shrutis (microtone)
If apply it to Western music
  • Primary - Melody, rhythm
  • Secondary - Harmony, voicing 
  • Tertiary - Articulation, phasing
This contributes to the concept of the hierarchy of primary, secondary, and tertiary elements. If the chicken is missing, the dish has to change the name; if any secondary, tertiary is missing, still eatable but the result is far from satisfaction. However, if any secondary or tertiary element is too much, like too much salt, the dish is spoiled. As a composer or a performer, it is interesting to view these music parameters from the food perspective and maintain the balance of different ingredients.

Reference:

McNeil, A. (1993) Why Hindustani Musicians are Good Cooks: Analogies between Music and Food in North India. Asian music. [Online] 25 (1/2), 69–80.

Location: 英國伯明罕伯明翰

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