While on the topic of food I remembered this discussion that some of my girl friends and I have been harping on off late. Cooking and recipes is a common source of entertainment when women meet and I'm no exception. We suddenly realised that the kids don't get to eat a particular category of food if the Moms dont like it. Forget about the husbands (they belong to the same gen)!
This realization hit us and at present most of my friends are giving it a very serious thought. Imagine the next generation grows up not knowing about the existence of a particular vegetable or a taste that we took for granted as we grew up.
The common hate factor was Karela - most people don't appreciate it's bitter taste so avoid it completly ignoring it nutritious values. Another was Brinjal. Personally I can't imagine food without these two maybe because I saw abundance of these two while growing up.
I grew up without the influence of ginger-garlic pastes or any normal masalas coz my mom thought it wasn't good for health or she might have learnt it that way from her mom! There was this misconception that garlic was used mostly by the non-vegetarians and so was almost banned in the vegetarian households of our ancestors and thus the influence continued.
This is constraining the Knowledge transfer through the generations. I suppose now all these super-moms should become super-human too and suppress their aversions for proper knowledge transfer. They should allow the household to form their own opinions while keeping their perceptions to themselves. This is a little far-fetched and very difficult but necessary if you look at the big picture! I've seen my MIL achieve this so I suppose it is do-able.
Let's try to help pass on the tastes through the ages. People should learn to appreciate all the tastes bitter-sour-sweet- salt and get on with life!
If you know of anything that I don't like to cook just let me know about it because generally food and I walk hand-in-hand. But, there is always scope for improvement!
(Thanks to the ladies who hate Broccoli, Karela, Brinjal, etc. now we strongly feel we need to change our styles of cooking.)
3 comments:
Hi,
I agree with your opinion to only a littel extent. Agree that kids don't get to eat something if their mom doesn't like it,but their dad can make it for them. Let me give you my example itself. I am a mom for two kids who are very picky eaters. I simply cannot stand the smell of omelette. My husband took over the charge and makes omelettes and the kids eat.If moms don't eat, let dads make it. Kids are like sponge and they grasp everything around them. They should not come to an impression that what mom doesn't like is not supposed to be eaten. Everybody has their own tastes and perceptions, it should not be rubbed onto others. Kids eventually will grow up, start tasting food outside and develop their own tastes. So, moms/dads, if you dont like something, dont make a bad impression about that on the kids.
Excellent ope! Thanks for your view point it's good to hear that Dads can cook too - it's still an evolving concept in India I guess. My article was more about Dad/MOM/grand mom or whoever does the cooking at home shouldn't limit the variety at home! I think we totally agree on this view! Yes and everyone grows up with their own perceptions which can change over time or develop over time.
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