It’s Time We Give Home-Cooked Food It’s Due
Is there anything more comforting than coming back home to a plate full of love?
Recently, after a 15-day Euro trip, all I wanted was to rush back home to simple home-cooked food: paneer bhurji (cottage cheese mashed vegetable), curd rice, dal-chawal (lentil rice), and some pickles. More often than not, I keep wondering why home-cooked food is not given the due it deserves. Why, in a world swamped with pizzas and burgers, we have forgotten how to enjoy our very own Desi meals?
Every time I visit my parents’ house, I look forward to the aromatic tea prepared by my father, the sweet vermicelli made by my mother, and the piping hot homemade aloo-puri (potato curry with fried pancakes). I have had a hundred kinds of tea from many different places, but nothing comes close to the one prepared by my father. I have funnily named it ‘The Tension-Free Tea!’ Perhaps it has something more than its usual ingredients — it has huge dollops of love and warmth!
As world-renowned nutritionist, Rujuta Diwekar reaffirms,
“Ghar ka khana” or homemade meals are really special. Even more so when shared with loved ones. It is delicious, comforting and wholesome. The best part of Indian cuisine is the sheer variety we can find within our traditional and regional dishes.
What also excites me about homemade food is how we remember the age-old recipes bestowed upon us by our ancestors. My Mom still carries my grandma's diary of recipes, and my sister and I have some recipes given to us by our mother which will be probably passed on to our children too. The legacy never will cease to exist.
So the next time you feel like going out or ordering something, remember how back in the day, families used to take time to sit together around a huge dining table and relish home-cooked food while reminiscing old-memories.
The feeling remains unparalleled to date.
PS: I am not in any way stereotyping gender roles through my views in the above write-up. I have only stated the general trend of women taking over kitchen roles in the past.
