Neeraj cut her off before she finished her sentence with a condescending laugh. “Omkar doesn’t know what I know about Indian cooking. Come with me,” he said, expecting her to follow as he turned to take her straight over to a shelf lined with little packets of spice.

“One of the things that people find intimidating about cooking Indian food is the vast array of spices used. I find that as soon as people are able to identify and understand the spices we use, then suddenly this cuisine is not as hard to make after all. Most of the spices are dry-roasted to release their essential oils before being ground into spice mixes.”

He picked up a box filled with little sage-colored pods which Aria thought resembled immature green pea pods that had been set out to dry. Letting her examine it, Neeraj continued his sermon. “There are two kinds of cardamom used in Indian cooking: green and black. Green is the more common variety, used for everything from spice mixes to lassis to Indian desserts. The flavor is light and sweet. Green cardamom can be blended whole when making spice mixes, like garam masala. However, when using them in sweets or desserts, what you would do is to pop the pod open and lightly crush the fragrant black seeds before using. Black cardamom, on the other hand, is very powerful and smoky, and needs to be used with extreme carefulness. Normally only the seeds would be used, and if using the whole pod, it’s best to pull it out before serving the dish, or it won’t taste good to bite into.”

Aria allowed Neeraj to pull her from aisle to aisle, explaining the ins and outs of the ingredients used in Indian cooking and how to use them, until he had exhausted his medley of products to show her. Even if she had come to the store interested in information about Indian cooking, the speed at which he expected her to absorb the information was unreasonable. But she found enjoyment in his passion for it all. “What recipe is it that you are wanting to make?” he asked.

“Oh, I don’t actually know. I guess I was gonna make up my mind about that after I came in here,” Aria responded, proud of herself for a moment for having lied so seamlessly.

That moment was short-lived. “One minute, I have something,” Neeraj said, turning to search behind the checkout counter. He walked back across the store with a small, brightly colored flyer advertising the store. Holding up the reverse side for her to see, he said, “This here is a beginner’s recipe, very easy. You can try for yourself and maybe you will like it.”