This is not a recipe post, more a moment of pondering!

Being a foodie…over decades, it facinates me. What and how people eat.

Such vast differences. We all eat food…but to me its not what you eat but how you eat it.

We like to think, like many of our previous generations that feed your kids everything, raise them appreciating food and they will appreciate all food through life. Like me and my siblings.

But that does not seem to be the case!
For my generation food was our one main commonality as a family. We all ate the food, at the same time, enjoyed it despite all our differences.

We never complained, we never moaned.
We had no reason to.
We had variety. We had really tasty delicious food compared to other family and relatives regards homecooking. We had many cooks in my household. Each of them with their unique strengths. British cuisine, authentic desi cuisine with both village and town influences, continental food and asian food.
We had my brothers cooking British Indian restaurant food at home or bringing it home from their restaurants.
We had my dad cooking kitchuri or dry fish at 2am cus he had a craving and then him knocking on all 7 bedroom doors prompting us to comedown and indulge. We all did, in our pj’s and dressing robes huddled in the dining room. All of us.
That’s what part food and family played in my life.

I lived with my parents, 4 sister in laws, my 4 brothers, my sister and 2 first cousins. All in a 7 bedroomed 3 floor huge Victorian house! You could only imagine! My world revolved around all the rooms below my topfloor bedroom.

I tried to raise my kids as I was, I encouraged them to try different foods. They enjoyed pretty much it all. With gusto and often with passion. Fish, meat, vegetables, whatever was served. No complaints.

Yet their diverse and evolving preferences baffle me somewhat as they age. All reflective of emerging personalities and character. They are all moving away from animal protein. Even the most foodie of my girls. Surprised me that.

They are influenced by animal cruelty and welfare. They question the necessity of killing for food. They want a green and sustainable planet. They have alternatives.
They have many influences. They have more determination and they have more choices.

I guess I live for food. But they live for other things because that’s bigger for them! They have so much choice, alternatives, methods and diversity in cuisines.

I respect that. I feel selfish I can’t share their passion for noble causes regards to food.
I’m not ready to walk away from a non veg diet but I have embraced cooking with more plant based products and alternatives.
I like to think I could become a vegetarian some day.
I repeat, I like to think!

Small steps in a good direction.