“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”  – Virginia Woolf

Ah! Rings so true….Our family has a crazy but a rather sincere love affair with food. It probably is the only common thing that brings us together everyday. We cook, eat and talk about it too. Every meal is as important to us that we just don’t want it to be something that fills our tummies. It has to be quite different from the previous meal and never a repeat of the previous day’s menu unless it is Masala Dosa or Chicken Biriyani or Idly Sambar. If you are someone who is just as happy having a toast or two for supper, then you are probably going to find us to be a fussy lot. No matter how your relationship with food is, it is a necessity and it will always be a topic of conversation. For people like us, talking about it is just as nice as eating it.

We are always up for cooking something together and find it exciting to make family favourite recipes time and again. If you come from a family where you are used to being involved in any part of the meal making right from when you were young, you will probably understand me a tad better. I love how my mother still asks each and every one of us about what we would like for every meal when we get together.Don’t you think this is such a great quality to possess in terms of making each of your loved ones feel valued for what they like? And when one feels valued, one feels love for one another. And in my opinion, this is the key to any relationship -To mutually respect each others likings and still love them.

Mom always says that good food is the basis of a good life. Good food doesn’t necessarily mean indulgence at every meal but a simple home cooked meal with the ones you love can be the best thing that can happen on an otherwise hard day. So, we have such an emotional connection with food that we have even shed bucket loads of tears over cake disasters and burnt pans.

Now having a family on my own, I try to follow the “asking principle” with my husband too. Only sometimes, the asking becomes a bit too much that we end up spending more time on deciding than making the food itself. But with the baby son, it is going to take a little while before he can help us seriously. For now, he thinks kitchen is where he can find colourful boxes and cups to spend time stacking. And he almost thinks he owns all my kitchen gadgets.

While I agree that there are many other ways to connect with your family and friends, Cooking together is our best pick. There is nothing quite like good food and great conversations.

What is your family’s favourite food?