happiness and food

I heard this from my Papa when once I had to quote something about food at school and this line has stayed with me over decades..

“Some eat to live, some live to eat but I love to eat”

My household is one of the many where the lady of the house rules over the kitchen. VT has almost no opinion on what he would like to eat and hence getting the right food prepared for both of us becomes a responsibility that no body shares with me. I know a lot of people hate the task of deciding the menu of the day but I am pretty comfortable with this. Not that I decide a week in advance but I have some basic rules that I apply and the outcome is pretty decent per my opinion.

I believe that home cooked meal is the best and one has a lot of control when the food is cooked at home. For example, I can always tell my help to use less oil or salt, add something healthier to the veggie etc. Health is the most important and hence as a unit, VT and I take care of each other when it comes to food. While I insist on a healthy breakfast, he never lets me sleep without a big mug of milk. So, when I had to write a post on lunch box, the only person on my mind was VT.

When I met VT’s mother for the first time, she told me how particular VT was with food and how he always wanted delicious home cooked meal, a no-no to leftovers etc. His family and neighbors joked around how he should get married to a chef’s daughter. But lo! God had other plans. I hardly cook and VT is very adjusting when it comes to food. Today his mum feels surprised at this transition and I feel relieved. He can eat daal with a slice of bread without complains and has no challenges with left overs too. To be honest, my help prepares the lunch for us and so our dinner is the same as lunch with rice or chappatis that I cook.

I have a choice of things that I love to eat and if health was not a concern, I would not have even watched what I eat. But finding VT’s favorite food is hard. I can’t say for sure what he really loves to eat. He usually comments on how the food tasted vs. what would he like to eat. As far as I think I know him, there are two things that he can’t stop asking for – tea and bread pakoda!! Coming from up North I think he relishes things like pindi chole, rajma, paneer, daal makhni and aaloo parathas with home made butter! But married to me what he gets in lunch box is chapattis without ghee,of course daals and veggies but there is also dosage of papaya and an apple everyday.

I want his lunchbox to be healthy cos that is the thing that will ensure a healthy mind and better days ahead of us. Sometimes, I regret not being able to prepare delicacies at home (for 2 reasons – no expertise and no inclination) but then he is the one who always tells me, “It’s okay, I get what I need”. He also tells me that when I wasn’t around, he used to miss his breakfast and now no day goes without a breakfast so I am actually not doing that bad!

Love and lunchbox go hand in hand. A little surprise in form of a cheesy egg sandwich, de-seeded dates or a laddoo for dessert can brighten up any heavy day at work. Even if I do not cook the food he eats, I pack it with lots of love! Like in the movie Lunchbox, I am sure when VT’s opens his lunch box, no aroma attracts his coworkers and that is why I think the way to a man’s heart is not necessarily through his stomach. After all, our love is intact for the last 9 years and I still can’t cook many things!

February is the month of love. Don’t forget to watch ‘The Lunchbox’ Premiere on Valentine’s Day at 8 PM on &pictures.