My food memories

I was just browsing the prompts on nablopomo for an idea for a post and I caught the word “food” and suddenly it clicked…a lot for food memories came rushing to my mind. So this post is about my food memories.

My earliest memory about a new food that I tried and liked goes back to when I was five. We used to live in Mumbai (Bombay, as it will always be for me). In our building there were two girls, twins actually, who were the same age as me. My family is vegetarian (but did not impose it on my brother and me) and their family was non-vegetarian. So one day when I had gone to their house to play, it was nearly lunch time and their mother asked me whether I’d like to eat with them. I agreed. Then suddenly she remembered that we were vegetarians. So she went upstairs, took permission from my mother (some vegetarians are strict and do not eat at homes of non-vegetarian people). Since in our family, it was left to individual choice, my mother said, let her try it. If she likes it, let her eat. And so it was that I first sampled chicken. I do not remember what dish she had made, but I do remember clearly that I loved it.

Throughout school and college, on each and every exam day, I ate ‘varan-toop-meeth-limbu-bhaat’ made by Aai (mother) and went for the exam. It is my feel-peace-food. For non-Indians, or even non-Maharashtrians, varan is an unsalted and plain thick-ish curry of cooked split pigeon peas, toop is clarified butter (ghee), meeth is salt, limbu is lemon and bhaat is cooked rice. All these are mixed together to make a dish that is pure bliss. The way my mother makes it is the only way I like it and the only way that makes me feel at peace :)

I have had bhutta / kaNees (steamed corn on the cob with ghee and salt and lemon applied to it) many times, but the one memory that prevails is of the time we had gone to visit Dimna Dam near Tatanagar (then in West Bengal, now in Jharkhand, I guess). We didn’t have any rain wear and it suddenly began to rain. Within minutes we were drenched to the bone. Dripping wet, we boarded the bus back to town. As soon as we reached the main square we saw a street vendor selling piping hot bhutta. How we greedily attacked the stall ! :) I still remember the taste of that bhutta and the fun we had eating it.

During the Ganapati festival each year, we visit my Mama’s (maternal uncle’s) place in Mumbai. Till a couple of years ago, Aaji (my maternal grandmother) used to make the best ukadiche modak. I used to help her with it but mine never turned out as well as hers. Now my Maami (maternal aunt) makes. Both modak are very tasty and well made (getting the perfect shape is an important requirement for modak). Whenever I eat modak anywhere, I always remember Ganapati at my Mama’s place.

After a recent funny incident (which, incidentally is a good one to share as my next blog post!), pomfret curry will forever be my most favourite fish preparation. No, no, the second most favourite…because the most favourite happens to be sushi.

Two and a half years ago I visited my brother and sister-in-law who live in UK. At that time they used to live close to London and my brother used to work in London. I used to venture out into London alone on some days, visit museums or parks or simply walk about Central London or on the South Bank and in the evening meet my brother at the Victoria Station and return home with him. One day as we met at the Victoria Station, my brother asked me if I was willing to experiment with food. I was more than willing :) So we went to the Wasabi outlet and he bought some sushi for us. Some vegetarian and some non-vegetarian. I knew before that sushi contains raw fish. So that wasn’t a shock/surprise. What was surprising, however, is that how I absolutely loved it ! After that on two more times during my stay in the UK I bought sushi at Wasabi at the Victoria Station and once ate it on the train back and the other time I took it home to share it with my sister-in-law. Since my return, I had been dying to eat sushi again but somehow it didn’t materialise till recently. We performed a play in Chennai at a prestigious theatre festival. The organisers had put us up at the five-star hotel ‘The Park’. There, for dinner we ordered a sushi platter and it was the most amazing sushi I’ve eaten so far. I fell in love with sushi all over again ! :) I shall always treasure the memory of sitting with four very dear people, the easy conversation and the shared excitement on eating the most amazing sushi !

It made me feel so good recalling these food memories…and contrary to popular belief, thinking of food hasn’t made me hungry…yet ;)