A Multicultural Take On Doing Family Dinners Right

Family dinners can be tricky. For people like me who need to have unique foods every day Minali Bajaj-Syed is an inspiration. Her Instagram page is a motivation in healthy, adventurous and diverse cooking. You can find her prolific cooking and find easy meals for foodies.
So, I asked her about her food journey and her battles as a mom who plans family dinners and teaches her kids to eat healthy and well.
Did you have family dinner while growing up? Who is a role model that has inspired you to implement family rituals?
Yes indeed. Family dinners were an integral part of my growing up years.
At home, it has always been my mother and post marriage my mother-in-law made sure that we all had our meals together as a family.
I hope to carry this forward and be a role model to my children too.
Your family is multicultural as many of ours are these days. Share a little bit about that and how the diversity has influenced your cooking over time.

I belong to a Sindhi background and learned all the delicious staples like Sindhi Kadi, Sai Bhaji (Mixed Greens and Lentils), Gobi Aloo (Stir-fried Cauliflower & Potato), Sindhi Keema (Minced Meat), etc. from my mother.
When I got married, I was quite surprised to see that most dishes of the Hyderabadi cuisine, paired meat with vegetables. To name a few, phalli gosht (green beans and meat), kadu ka dalcha (bottle gourd with meat), bhinda ka salan (okra with meat), etc. Meat plays an undeniable role in the Hyderabadi cuisine.
Initially, it took me time to acquire a taste for these combinations but now I love these dishes. Perfect combo of proteins and greens! Now that I have mastered the authentic dishes of Hyderabad, my family enjoys eating their Biryanis, Mirchi Ka Salan (Jalapeño in Gravy), Khatti Dal (Sour Dal), Chicken 65, Haleem (Meat & Lentil Porridge), etc.
What do your meal rituals look like?
We start each meal with a portion of fruits and/or veggies. Raw fruits and vegetables aid in digestion and provide us with a good amount of nutrients (most of which tend to deplete in the cooking process.) Also, we don’t tend to over eat if we have a bowl/plate of fruits and veggies as a pre-lunch/pre-dinner meal.
Lunches are heavy and dinners are light. Lunch consists of a meat/chicken/seafood dish paired with rice and/or pita bread. I ensure to incorporate all the five nutrients proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and fats into most of our meals. Dinners vary between Italian pasta, Arabic shawarmas or fatayers, South Indian dosas, Thai curry, Indian flatbread and sabzi, stews/soups paired with garlic bread, etc.

Do you have some rules that you have influenced with your kids since the beginning? Has their food choices evolved?
I love to experiment with different foods for the kids. I made sure to introduce various cuisines to them from a young age. Thankfully, today they enjoy almost everything that is put on their plate.
Most times we see that some kids and adults are fussy eaters because they perhaps lacked a variety of dishes to choose from. Cooking and eating foods from a single cuisine can make us either too used to those foods only or bored of them. Both ways, eating can seem like a task more than enjoyable. This is why I make sure the kids get to taste Thai, Italian, Chinese, American and other cuisines.
Also, as a rule, they have to eat what they have on their plate. I do not offer substitutes for not trying or eating a particular food. Take it or leave it! And this is probably why both my kids have acquired a taste for vegetables like bitter gourd, asparagus, broccoli, turnip, brinjal and bottle gourd.
What are some of the lessons you wish to impart to your kids through food?
As the famous saying goes, “A family that EATS together STAYS together.” And believe me this is very true.
Food is the best MEDICINE for our body. With correct eating habits, we can cure most of our ailments on our own.
Live to EAT and EAT RIGHT to live.

We should make MEMORIES through food. Ever wonder why the taste or aroma of a certain dish reminds you of home or brings back a fond memory?
Having food on our plate should make us feel GRATEFUL. We need to be thankful for having a simple healthy meal. Eating doesn’t have to be extravagant. You rather feed the needy. There are so many people in the world who are deprived of good food. And this is why at home, we begin each meal by saying “Bismillah” (In the name of God) and end each meal by saying “Alhumdullilah” (All praise and gratitude to God)
What is your take on device use during meals?
Absolutely no screen time during meals. We do not allow devices to eat into our family time.
What are your family’s favorite cuisines and foods?

No guesses that Hyderabadi Biryani tops our list.
Kuwaiti Majboos Dacoos comes in second and grilled kababs and tikkas rank third in our favorite foods.
We enjoy the Hyderabadi, South Indian, Thai, Italian and Arabic cuisines.
What is your personal food journey been like? Does travel play a big part?
For me, the love for cooking set in quite late actually. I began enjoying cooking after my kids were born. I took Health and Nutrition courses online and learned so much about the science of cooking and eating. Balanced diets, proportions, nutrition…it all began to make sense to me. I realized that cooking empowers us in a way that we control what goes into our family’s stomach.
Most diseases today are born from the gut. Unhealthy eating habits are the cause of common illnesses like diabetes, PCOD, heart ailments, etc. Being able to control the amount of sugar or fat that goes into my food, makes me feel more responsible and accountable. This power is lost when we depend mostly on ready-made dinners and restaurant food.
Traveling and tasting different cuisines definitely influences my cooking. When I try a new dish and love it, I try to make it myself. The first time I made the ‘Tres Leches’ cake, it brought back memories of having tried it for the first time in New Orleans. A family run South- American cafe is where I tried it for the first time, so it was as authentic as it could be. A decade later, I was thinking about that cake so much that I immediately pulled out a few ingredients and made it myself. Fortunately, I aced this one in my first try. Some other dishes need a few more tries before I’m satisfied with the taste. I still need to perfect the Sri Lankan Sambol, Thai Chili Crabs, Southern Key Lime Pie and a few other dishes.
What is your nutrition mantra ?
Moderation is the key!

We can all enjoy hearty meals, junk food and desserts but in moderation. Eating out once a week is absolutely fine. Enjoying some hot French fries or yummy cupcakes is not a bad thing at all as long as it is done sensibly.
Easy recipes, quick cooking and readily available ingredients is all it takes to dish out a healthy homemade meal. We need to stop shying away from the kitchen and try our hands more at home-cooking.
After all, a healthy home is a happy home!
You can find more food ideas and nutrition tips daily from Minali on her Instagram page here. For more multicultural stories that help educate the future generation, visit my passion project.

