Brightness

ON BUSY HILL ROAD IN BOMBAY, near my grandparents’ home, is a sugarcane juice stall. All day long, people of all ages flock there for a glass of freshly squeezed, ice-cold juice. To make the juice, the canes are passed through a series of crushing rollers that free the sweet liquid. For a little extra, I get a whole lime squeezed into my juice. The bright acidity of the citrus adds a tart catch to the sweetness, making this drink the perfect thirst quencher. It epitomizes the sensation of brightness: what I describe, for the purposes of this chapter, as a vibrant flavor, often tartly acidic, that provides contrast to a heavier, sweeter flavor.