A trip down the food lane

A trip down the food lane…

‘…you ran, turning a deaf ear to Mother as she stood at the doorway shouting your name out, shying away from the rain. You ran across the streets, jumping in puddles, splashing muddy water all over yourself for kaka’s chaat. You only worried about your soiled clothes later when mother gave you a good scolding.’

What is it about street food during the monsoons that puts a smile across our faces? What is it about the monsoon, that it’s so tied to our memories about food? The crackle of oil when samosas are first dropped into the wok and the crunch of the hot, sweet jalebis – they are little moments we later realise weren’t so little after all. That’s the thing about food, it has the most uncanny ways of bringing the past alive. It triggers a thousand memories, a thousand senses in just an instant.

Little does Mother know how you were in fact creating memories of a lifetime when you laboriously collected coins from granny for plate of bhelpuri. Little does she know you will tell your grandchildren the delightful tastes of aaloo tikki you managed to gobble on your way back from school abandoning the rain coat mom carefully buttoned down, fearfully looking around for your father coming back from work.

Food is the one defence we have as we grow up, when mother accuses, “You have changed beta!” The love for food is constant, unwavering – and in the monsoons, heightened by a sense of adventure. Everyone is a foodie these days, and why not? What are we really without food?

This year around, the monsoons have arrived doing what they know best – making you crave for something hot & delicious, hitting you with nostalgia. Pakodas maybe with some spicy chutney that makes your tummy tingle?

The child in you, even today, wants to skip across the street to the chaat wala, makes you eye him everytime you return home. The mother in you today, remembers your mother’s warnings and worries for your child’s health come to mind.

Well, the next time you catch yourself craving some chaat in these rains, get home and make a yummy snack and pair it with Mother’s Recipe’s mouth-watering chutney range for a nostalgic trip down the taste lane!