... it is my relation with food...
My parents have proudly served the Indian Air Force for all of my life, and so we were the rare breed of kids known as “defence kids”. When asked in college about where we were from, you can see this breed fumbling and thinking for a while before replying... “umm I was born in delhi, did my schooling in allahabad, assam, agra, bangalore, delhi and jamnagar... did my bachelors in ahmedabad but my parents are at gorakhpur at the moment but are moving to kasauli soon”... and a grin... YES... I would rather say,... I am an Indian!!
Well that was before marriage... after marriage I was in South Korea for a year before moving to Singapore and from here we have had our share of long trips to Australia and Indonesia...and few vacations to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Egypt.. whew... well, now I can say I am from this very Earth!!!
This in short shows that I have travelled and lived in a lot of places and with places come different food. I do give a lot of credit to my parents who are very experimental with food and have always encouraged me and my brother to try everything with an open mind. This is a rare attitude in people from their generation who are usually more than comfortable with their set of foods only. In fact my father cooks very very well and my mother use to make exceptional cuisines when all around us knew only “north indian food- idli dosa- chinese” (coming in of TV channels has opened our mind and stomachs!!).
Add to this, local domestic help from each part of India we were in, and you get to taste and eat local delicacies. Also, friends sharing lunch boxes at school made me appreciate differences in food a lot!!!
There after in my M.Tech at CEPT University Ahmedabad (Planning), I am sure all of you who are aware of the course would say that CEPT and food don’t go together (because people studying there don’t have time to eat!!)... but you will agree that you really get to travel a lot and some students like me and my friends chose to travel a little more and loved exploring architectural wonders of India... and along with that unknowingly even enjoyed the gastronomical delights there. We had projects in villages in Gujarat where we would stuff our tummy with “bajra roti-makkhan- jeeru chaas” to villages in Karnataka where I had to eat “set tosai” for 15 days (all 3 meals!) and I swore to myself to NEVER eat dosa again!!!... to the happy go lucky Goa.. where we got to eat the best fresh catch from sea cooked by university chefs in kokum... to yet our adventures in Nashik and Mandav. Whew....
All the while... I was only interested in EATING!!!! ....and then the turning point in my life came - MARRIAGE!!!
Now after marriage I had to cook to eat!!!... so I was made to move to the other side... I couldn’t even make Dal (lentil curry... the easiest of all dishes!)... Kaushal taught me how to make dal the first day after reaching Korea... and told me NOT to make mung dal... and never with mustard seed!!!... and I ended up making mung dal with mustard seeds!!! DISASTER....
And then I decided to start cooking.... I use to ask my mom and dad recipes online... write them down... slowly I graduated to following recipes from books and since Kaushal is a vegetarian, I started replacing any non-veg item with paneer / potato etc so that he could taste the variations.... and thus began my journey with COOKING and UNDERSTANDING food....
Getting vegetarian food is difficult in Korea and so I use to cook more at home.. and slowly I started enjoying the process... but there were huge disasters and Kaushal is the one who suffered... I conveniently would escape with some stir fried egg!!! ha ha ha....
After moving to Singapore, I met Jilcy and saw her bake. She bakes with an incomparable passion and perfection. She inspired me to try baking and helped me with all that she knew about it... and still does! I just have to call her with my doubt “Jilcy.. my muffins are so flat and hard”... “vaishali you dont beat muffin with beater... you fold it with spoon”... “ufff... and I thought I was being smart by using beater!!!”
and my adventure with spices - flours - veggis - meat continues..... its a love- hate relationship frankly.. its like having a boyfriend...I have had him around for a long time, but never thought of having a “relationship” with him.... I think I’ll just refer to my food as ‘him’... makes him interesting....
I do get frustrated at times when the outcome is not what I had worked about, or when he gets “late” and yes of course... at times it gives you delicious satisfaction!!!....
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