Evolution of daily food

Food is one of the most prominent features that define society. It very subtly reveals our taste, preferences, climate, history, culture, religion and the living patterns, at large.

I have been fortunate to experience the most traditional bengali cuisine mastered by Thamma (paternal grandmother) since childhood, followed by a modified North-Eastern fusion, yet largely bengali cooking by Maa after Thamma's death and very recently relished typical Awadhi cooking by Amma, my mother-in-law hailing from Eastern Uttar Pradesh after the sudden demise of Maa. I love to eat delicious home made food, especially if served with warmth - the last but not the least important ingredient that completes any eating experience.

Wise men say that "A family that prays and eats together at least once a day shall always stay together." And I can definitely feel a special warmth with my family while singing bhajans (during festivals) or eating that one meal at dinner time, in togetherness. Actually, if we carefully analyse , it is during our prayers when His Holiness overtakes our petty pride and prejudices and our minds get tastefully satisfied while eating, both helping us forget mutual differences for a while. So, wise men definitely have a very strong basis for the above statement.

Anyway, coming back to evolution of daily food, I would like to begin with my early childhood, when it was quite an elaborate affair. My thamma was a very traditional bangaali who took pride in preserving the eastern roots in her family till the last day of her life through inculcating music, poetry, academics and food. She strictly wore only cotton sarees and tied it the bengali way, always. I recall my early childhood days when my home smelt of incense sticks, fish curry (macher jhol) and aging books, all mixed up harmoniously.

Bengali style of Saree-Drape

Food had to be eaten following definite meal courses. On one hand, this huge variety of food made it cumbersome to be cooked everyday, while on the other hand, the nutrition and taste one derived would be increased manifold.

Breakfast was quite monotonous where we would be forced to finish a bowl of roti, milk and banana - all mashed together for it's health value. But, thamma made up for this forced early morning palate torture inflicted on us during the rest of the meals through an elaborate lunch/dinner and the yummiest evening snacks with our evening glass of milk.

Macher Jhol (Fish Curry)

Rosho-Golla

A typical lunch/dinner menu would comprise of the following courses, essentially in that order.

Teito with Rice

(Dry preparation of Bitter Gourd cooked with Neem or Margosa leaves and brinjal served with Rice)

Daal & Shobji Bhaja with Rice

(Lentils and crispy fried vegetables served with Rice)

Torkari & Vegetable Koptaas with Rice

(Vegetables, especially lots of greens or vegetable balls cooked in typical Bengali gravy)

Macher Jhol with Rice

( Bengali Fish curry cooked with/out vegetables usually tempered with paanch foron consisting of cumin, mustard, fenugreek, fennel and black cumin and long green chillies)

Mishti

(Sweet dessert usually kheer, sandesh, rasgulla or Mishti Doi)

After my thamma passed away when I was five, Maa took over the reins of household completely and carried on with the culinary legacy. Maa was more experimental with food and introduced different Cuisines like South Indian and Chinese into our daily food, while cutting down on the heavy meal courses as she was into a full time job of teaching.

The change was quite evident in terms of lesser time being spent over the dining table and the kitchen and our palate started experiencing newer tastes. The evening snacks were replaced with commercial biscuits and four course meals were restricted to weekends. Roti replaced Rice during Dinner and non-vegetarian dishes were tried out in gravies of Mutton and Chicken too, which were then consumed only once a week.

I got married in early 2001, almost a decade back, into a family of Eastern Uttar Pradesh which gave me enough opportunities to then taste typical North Indian meals. Amma, my mother-in-law is a fine cook and consistently ensures variety in her cooking. My observation regarding the typical North Indian meals is pretty simple, they do not live to eat but eat to live, unlike bengalis who have an unbelievable passion and patience for food. Breakfast is extremely interesting in sharp contrast to my childhood. Cheela, Poha, Pakoda, Upma, Egg Omelet with Toast, Kachori with Dum Aloo and Jalebi ..... Slurrrp!!! Breakfast is the best part at my sasuraal.

Kebabs

Chicken Roast

Lunch and Dinner is simplified with a Daal, Sabji, Roti, Chutney, Raita and Salad. Snacks are aplenty like sumptuous non-vegetarian as well as green kebabs, chicken fry and roasted, various tikkas and desserts are usually Halwa made with seasonal ingredients like Carrots, Plain Gourd(Lauki), Makhana (lotus seeds) or Moong Daal. Commercial sweets like Gulab Jamun with Rabdi is also consumed very often. It has been a different flavour altogether.

My husband also happens to be reasonably good at cooking and is a trained Chef since his Hotel Management days, where he specialised in Food Production whereas I took up Accommodation Management.

My journey in food has been quite an interesting one so far. That just leaves us with one question .... What do I cook? ;-))

Well, I feel burdened by the legacy concept and cook whatever comes to my mind at that moment. There are days when I would feel motivated enough to lay a feast over the table including Bengali food on one extreme or would rather cook up 2-minute noodles on days when I feel less energetic. I belong to today's generation of spoilt home-makers, I guess!

Going by the cooking patterns which have conveniently got simplified with each generation, I shudder to think what would K~ be cooking when she goes the family way !!