Village voices

There are some things that call out from home when you are far away, and Pauline D. Loh says homesickness is best cured with food that is familiar.

Rice slightly salty to the tongue with the full fragrance of rich coconut milk, and the underlying herbal scent of warm banana leaf. Turmeric-marinated chicken that tingles the tongue and then bursts into salty juiciness in the mouth. Fish fried to a crackle and prawns smothered in an onion-chili paste - both with the sweetness of seafood that surfaces in spite of the spices.

It is a plateful of imagery in which the homesick prodigal son or daughter can imagine the stiff sea breeze whipping up tears in the eyes, and the rippling fronds of swaying coconut palms pointing the way to the beach.