Question

What does a Jackfruit-like appearance mean?

Answer 1

Hint: A jackfruit is a fruit that grows on tropical trees and has two bulges - one small one at the top and a bigger one at the bottom. A jackfruit's appearance, therefore, will resemble the shape of this fruit.

Complete answer:
The above question refers to the story ‘A Baker from Goa’ by Lucio Rodrigues. The author had used the sentence ‘jackfruit-like physical appearance’ to denote the physique or body shape of a typical baker in Goa. He further mentioned that in the social setup of Goa, any person who looks like he has a bulge around his chest and his belly is even more bulged, that person is compared to a baker, as such a body is most common among bakers in Goa.

When the Portuguese ruled the state of Goa, they brought a number of items commonly consumed by them to Goa. One of these was various types of bread. The Portuguese culture of eating bread and baked goods also influenced the Goanese people who then started to consume bread as well. Gradually, the market for baked goods flourished in Goa.

While the Portuguese were still there, baking was a prosperous business in Goa, and the bakers earned quite a lot of wealth. These bakers were called pader in their local language. Since these bakers earned a good fortune, they never starved. The baker’s family and servant ate to their heart’s content and thus had a ‘plump physique’ or a pleasantly fat stature. In earlier days, a fat body shape was often seen as a symbol of wealth and prosperity because the food was often scarce those days. A wealthy man would have enough money to feed himself and his family and was thus often fat.

Note: Apart from the bread mentioned in the prose, the Portuguese also invented the famous pav which is primarily consumed by Western India. The Portuguese also introduced the vegetable, potato, to India, which they called alhos (hence the Hindi word aloo).