Madhur Jaffrey in 1974

It's 1974 in Gourmetland, and the gang's all here. In this issue, you'll find a dispatch from Paris. Write-ups of the hottest new bistros in New York. A spooky truffle hunting tale from the forests of Lyon. Notice a theme? In the 1970s, Gourmet was very focused on France.

So when I got to Madhur Jaffrey's piece about her childhood, An Indian Reminiscence, the words almost jumped off of the page. Jaffrey spins tales of warm pooris, cardamom-almond balls covered in thin silver leaf, and chusnis, small sucking mangoes. Here's my favorite part:

What a wonderful recipe! More practical, maybe, are these pooris. This might be the most irresistible fried bread recipe I've ever seen:

These beans are also extremely enticing: