While I wouldn’t declare himself a foodie, there have been media pieces that have shown what a fascinating subject food can be, specifically when it comes to making food. From the many celebrity chefs out there, to dramatized works like 2023’s The Taste of Things, the process of making food is just as creative as filmmaking or creating comic books. In fact, the new comic from that the creators of The Many Deaths of Laila Starr is all about food and filmmaking, leading to the very heart of creativity.
Set at a time when the pandemic has occurred and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain is no longer with us, Ram V and Filipe Andrade’s Rare Flavours centers on Rubin Baksh, a demonic Rakshasa who has a down-to-earth dream of being the next Bourdain. To achieve his dream, he enlists Mo, a filmmaker who has seen better days, to document the world-renowned cuisine of India and the people behind such glorious food. But unbeknownst to Mo, there is something scarily supernatural about Rubin, which makes him a target of two mysterious men.
Growing up in India, a number of Ram V’s comics has explored numerous sides of his native land’s culture, and in the case of Rare Flavours, the world of Indian cuisine. The comic itself goes into such great detail about the recipes that Rubin and Mo document during their journey that it almost becomes a cookbook, going through the ingredients and even the history of the recipe itself. One could make the argument that the cookbook segments help fill out a storyline that is rather loose and not built on much dramatic tension.
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Ram V has written excellent horror like Blue in Green, and there are teases that would suggest that’s what Rare Flavours is heading towards, considering the mystery surrounding Rubin, whose massive presence alone is a scary contrast to the skinny normalcy of Mo. Whilst it is revealed later on about who he really is and the disturbing ramifications to come out of it, the writer isn’t that interested in villifying Rubin, especially what he means to Mo himself.
This book is drenched in Indian culture and myth, with a great deal of voiceover, but at the heart of Rare Flavours is the strange central friendship between the two main protagonists, both going through their own tragedy. Mo, in particular, is still grieving over a family loss and despite his reluctance to get back into filmmaking, the journey of documenting life itself through food provides some much-needed salvation. As previously stated, there isn’t much tension, especially when it comes to the two hunters, who may have their lengthy backstory, doesn’t really build to a climax.
As the comic ranges from being a road trip across India, to being a cookbook on the country’s food, artist Filipe Andrade makes it all visually coherent. Not far off from his work in Laila Starr, where there is a looseness in the illustrations, the character designs are so clearly defined, whilst the environments can go from the busyness of the Mumbai streets and the calmness of the landscapes themselves. And for you foodies out there, Andrade’s renditions of the recipes look quite yummy.
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