Romanticising Food
Every cook has a very pretty heart!
Why would I say so??
Because ultimately she/he is cooking for that glance and ahhh which promptly comes on the face when the food gets on those taste buds.
Cooking is that miracle which can hypnotise me! It compels me to match the pace of my mind and actions, with the pace which food requires for itself to cook. It is no less than meditation, which takes my mind off everything. When I am very upset and nothing on this earth can distract me, cooking has got that power to take my mind off everything!
People say you have to be really patient while cooking… But I believe you just don’t need to be patient. All u need is to be able to appreciate, enjoy and relish the changing smells, colour , taste while the food is slowly and magically travelling to transform completely and reach its final destination. If there is somebody who needs to be patient, it is the person who has to eat!
What you need while cooking is give each ingredient its own time and space to show out its best. Like a child if u suppress before he could show his best and put a competitor before him, he will get demotivated and you wouldn’t realise the potential. What I mean to say is, let the ingredient take its time to cut others loose in that vessel and stand up for itself ;).
Food cannot be generalised as good or bad. A good cook is one who doesn’t impose his or her taste on the 2nd person, rather finds out his… And gives the best experience for this person’s taste buds.
I like yellow, but you might totally like red!
Have you ever thought why does a sizzling hot brownie please you more than the brownie topped with hot chocolate sauce? Cooking and eating are not only to do with your taste but your smell, sight and touch are also very much involved! Actually all your five senses!
A good display of the food, good colours in the food, good smell of the food, the way food is textured, the temperature at which food is served along with a good TASTE makes the whole culinary experience a wonderful one! Basically it is not only taste, cooking involves all your senses.
In the country where I stay, mostly female is the cook. It is even said that “The person who is good and efficient in the kitchen, rules the heart of every member of the family”.
I am not stereotyping here, neither am I being gender biased, I have thoroughly felt that a female cook can do a better job than a male one. This is totally to do with the kind of person a female is. A woman in soft yet strong, very selfless in most of the situations where she loves people, lot of unspoken and unsaid love and that is what showers so much love in her food that it just becomes very tasty!
Few decades ago, criteria for an appropriate match would be a perfect cook. The major criteria for choosing a bride would be rating how convivial she is. And I feel the very efficient and permanent way to reach out to a total stranger’s heart is through his stomach. That’s why this approach is a very good way of assuring that the couple are going to stay connected and together throughout their lives. All of us from this generation think it is unfair and orthodox … for them to put cooking as a criteria. But all this makes sense to me and I feel this will make two people happy and contented at the end of the day! I am an Indian girl..and this is totally in context with the country.
Now, From this I will come to my next topic i.e Home food!
Food cooked by our mother, grandmother etc., the very nature of the impact the food has is permanent. Twenty years later when u might forget everything,… one thing you will certainly remember is how your mum’s particular dal, kadhi, sabzi used to taste like. The food that our moms cook for us…. is cooked with lots of love… and lot of care… and lot of positive thoughts for only us while she must be cooking that wonderful yet simple meal. It’s the experience that we remember more than the food! When you are very tired at the end of the day… and you need some comfort and warmth, it’s that home cooked (mom cooked) food which gives you so. Sometimes that godly figure, when she is so tired, she makes the simplest possible meal. It can be as simple as sweetened milk and bread. But we love it. Since childhood, my father encouraged and taught me to appreciate my mother’s effort. Appreciation is a very special tool from which you can make her feel special and assure that you will get another big four course meal the next time. This reminds me of what George Meredith says “Kissing don’t last, Cookery do”. The after effect and feeling of having good food, is so amazing , that it can create nostalgia even 50 years after that particular meal!
Let me tell you something here… my mother loves people who love to eat! And hence I am going to marry a man who loves to eat more than I do.
Every family has some traditional or customized style/ menu/ way of food. Some of the weirdest combinations… which you will never find someone eating or maybe even thinking of. But these combinations are small innovation in the pre-set recipes, these are new successful experiments done by somebody, sometime in the family, which has trickled down to many generations. I believe a recipe is just a small aid to the procedure, rest i.e the magic that you need to add to the food every time you cook is never written. It is a very prompt and a risky step, sometimes successful sometimes not. But I believe, never be scared to experiment if you are cooking, the joy of innovating is really good!
Healthy food!
This practically makes me laugh! I don’t like this distinction of healthy or unhealthy food. My taste buds don’t like this DISTINCTION. When there is something like food that can never let u down, why bother yourself with these thoughts…. Just let this love engulf you so much that nothing on this earth can bother you!
I will jog half an hour extra…. But wouldn’t sacrifice on the double cheese pizza. Why should I when my pituitary gland is getting super excited and itchy to release those endorphins and make me the happiest creature in that moment!
But for you health freaks out there! A good meal always has something or the other to neutralize/ detoxify and make your stomach feel relaxed. A fizzed drink with your spicy meal, Sorbet after a heavy Chinese meal, nice rich creamy ice cream after a good platter, Fruit syrups, root syrups , milk, coffee, tea etc. along with most of the meals. So do not worry about putting on weight and do not bother yourself before starting a good meal.
Just eat and enjoy and spread the Love!
