Favourite Things – Avni Doshi
Each week Reaction Weekend brings you Favourite Things – interviews with interesting people about the skills, hobbies, pleasures and past times that make them who they are.
Avni Doshi is an author and winner of the Tibor Jones South Asia Prize (2013) and a Charles Pick Fellowship (2014). Doshi lives in Dubai with her family. Her debut novel Burnt Sugar / Girl in White Cotton was nominated for this year’s Booker Prize.
These are a few of Avni Doshi’s favourite things…
Naoshima, Japan’s Art Island
Naoshima and Teshima are art islands in Japan. The architecture and the spaces are built just to house amazing art. Some of my favourite artists like Walter De Maria and James Turrell have installations and sculptural works there. For me, it was amazing to have the experience of seeing art in a very unique and immersive space. Nature becomes a very integral part of the art-viewing experience on the islands. You see beautiful sunsets, sunrises, rain showers, the moon and the stars in the sky, it affects the experience of the art. Wandering around those islands you are on a sort of treasure hunt, you can make wrong turns and get lost but that produces magical results; you stumble across a work of art you weren’t expecting to see. I’ve only been there once as it is a bit of a trek to get to. I think they intended it to be that way as they didn’t want it to become overrun. It’s a once in a lifetime trip, although I hope I get to go back.
Condiments
I love condiments. I eat certain foods just so I can enjoy the condiments. I put sauces on everything. In restaurants I order all of the sauce options, and I like to have several varieties in my house. I have so many different mustards; horseradish, honey, Dijon, different variations of French and English, different chilli sauces too. I love eating French fries, but I have realised that when I eat them, they are just something to put the sauce on, a vehicle for the different sauces. As I get older, I like the richer sauces so my favourite would have to be a fresh, homemade mayonnaise.
Table décor
I spend a lot of time and energy setting the table every evening. I have a collection of different plates, serving dishes and spoons, napkins and glasses, flowers and candles too. I have collected a lot of it over the years when I travel, I have some really interesting pieces from Tokyo and Morocco. I love fine porcelain. I have a Limoges fund. I save money when I can and keep it aside to buy a really beautiful set of fine china. I almost wish I lived in a time when people were really specific about the forks, spoons and dishes they used for their food; I like all of that.
Mango pulp
In India it is known as aamras, my family is from Gujrat in India and it is this special thing that Gujaratis eat. When I went to my grandmother’s house growing up, we always ate mango pulp on the side of all of our meals. I have amazing childhood memories of the whole family sitting at the table. To this day my grandmother is so particular about the mango pulp. Her children and grandchildren live all over the world so we usually miss the mango season in India. Now she hires helpers to make the mango pulp with her, so she can freeze kilos and kilos of it in a special freezer. She wants to make sure we all get a chance to eat it when we come and visit. It is a very special family thing to me, there are a lot of memories and maternal love associated with it.
Jane Austen Adaptations
I love all of the films and miniseries. Some of them, I can admit, have not been great over the years, some of them have been pretty terrible. But I can watch them all again and again. Whenever I am in a bad mood, not feeling well, or just exhausted and want to spend hours watching something, I put on the Pride and Prejudice BBC mini-series. But not just the Colin Firth one, any of them. My husband makes fun of me, he’s like: “this is terrible why are you watching them over and over again?” But I grew up reading Jane Austen novels so it is a source of familiar comfort for me.