India, March 29 -- Moving from Tamil Nadu to Texas has meant there are some things I just can't have in my kitchen. One of them is the banana leaf.

Rather than go into its magical properties (which I can perhaps steel myself to do another time), I'd like to explore the food liners I now use, and how I've learnt to pick the right one for each task.

Butter paper, wax paper, cellophane and aluminium foil: No single liner does it all. But they are all descended from the original food liner in the West: leather.

Here at home we had the broad banana leaves, with their waxy coating made up of fatty acids, and their grassy aroma that seeps into fish, meat, idiyappams and panki.

Similarly, across South and South-East Asia, marinated meats and ...