After painting the town red over our kids’ picky food habits, it’s time for some introspection! How much do we experiment with food or how adaptable are we to different cuisines? Our food habits are shaped by where we come from and where we live now. One of my American friends found it amusing that we Indians start our day with something spicy like a dosa/paratha with pickle and not something sweet like a waffle or a pancake. Well, with breakfast, I guess it pays to be adaptable…I mean I thank God for Quakers Instant Oatmeal every morning!:-) I only wish my little desi boy would have Oatmeal instead of his Guli-appe/ rice balls which is the only thing he eats every day.
Anyway, when we move to a different place, we learn to acquire a taste for its cuisine and the younger we are, the easier it is to develop an acquired taste. Frankly, it took me more than a couple of visits to Taco Bell to start liking a burrito. Being a vegetarian, I still can’t get over the smell of the sea-weed used in Japanese cuisine! When I took my parents last year to an Italian restaurant here, they weren’t impressed with an authentic basil pasta but found my spicy Indianised penne, delicious! :-) So it’s not only the little ones, but we adults are guilty too! Honestly if you were given a choice between Oats and a Masala Dosa for breakfast, what would you choose?
To conclude my special on food fights at home, today I read “This is the way we eat our lunch” by Edith Baer and illustrated by Steve Bjorkman, an around the world food adventure for you and your little one to relish. It’s time for lunch and what will it be? Will it be Clam Chowder of Massachusetts or South Carolina’s potato pie or Texas tacos or Quebec’s soufflé or Columbian Tamales or Moroccan Couscous feast or Israeli Pita Bread or Italian Macaroni & Cheese or Indian curry-rice or Japanese tempura or Australian Barbecue! Abhay liked the colorful illustrations of the multi-ethnic world and its multi-cuisine food network! Who knows, may be in a few years from now, I’ll find him saying “Amma….dont fuss so much, it’s only a sushi!! :-)
nice one divs, share the receipe for guli appi please.. i too have a problem with Ayushi's breakfast
ReplyDeletethe mention of food(dosa,paratha,cheese)made my mouth water..I guess today my diet is going for a toss.:)
ReplyDeletecoming from India-the land of sugar,spice and everything nice..it would be difficult to enjoy western cuisines but like u said ..kids can do it more easily than adults..
Thanks Sush...I know....breakfast was a problem with Abhay too until I thought'If he wants the same thing everyday, I might as well use it to my advantage'....so less thinking for me in the mornings! Guli-appa is nothing but dosa batter in an idiappam tava!
ReplyDelete@Shilpa...I know we Indians cant do without spice !!:-)
We tasted for the first time oat meal for breakfast when we came to Potland and we liked the taste and thought, it could be a good substitute for laborious Dosa or Idli. ( I mean the process of making it).Just mix it with milk and consume. So we purchased a packet of oat meal from super bazar. After incubating it for a few days, I maen with out even opening, one day we decided to use it for breakfast, but could not relish it at all. May be the stuff was not as good as it was in portland or the smell of it was repulsive. We used it only once and later threw it to trash bin.
ReplyDeleteSo much for the Americanised breakfast!
kedlapurandar