Is being a good cook an essential part of being a woman/mother/wife?
I am not a great cook and certainly not an enthusiastic one. I do what I have to. But when my children were small, I made cakes and snacks and whatever, depending on their tastes that changed with their ages. And, probably, the only thing that mattered was the love that went into it. Otherwise, I always preferred other house chores. If there were extended family celebrations/get-togethers, I was the first to volunteer to look after all the young children around, so their mums could do other stuff around the house. I was always a willing child-minder. But for cooking, I always had to pour some serious iron into my will! To this day, the only times I don't mind cooking is if one of my family is sitting around in the kitchen and talking to me, or if I have some youngster helping me cook, like in the recent past, when my grandson helped me bake a cake.
I dont know - children somehow associate mothers with cooking , but only when they are small ? My girls are not very bothered and neither am I . I cook on weekends because Ashis and they like to eat what I cook , but no I dont believe its of paramount importance .
ReplyDeleteI cook a very few dishes very well, and many more to a satisfactory, but utterly passionless, level. When I cook one of my "good" dishes (maybe once a week), my oldest son definitely comments on it, raves about it, swears mine's "the best", but he doesn't complain the other six nights when I serve healthy, adequate, but lackluster dishes. I'm ever so hopeful when he's grown he'll only remember the shining meals. =)
ReplyDeleteYou ARE a good cook whether you like cooking or not and there are several dishes of yours which i crave when sitting in Chennai...and I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers your dishes fondly! On the topic of whether cooking is or is not important, my only hope that it isn't. Else my poor babies will grow up and realise that they missed out something big in their lives cos their mother never cooked!
ReplyDeleteI don't like cooking myself. It's a big chore for me and I just do it because it's expected of me. I do have some "specials" that people like me to make at get-togethers like bagel dip and pitchaio bread.
ReplyDeleteI guess I get by on cooking. They eat it most of the time. LOL.
I really do more cooking during the weekend than I do during the week. Fingerfoods, frozen foods, and sandwiches are the norm during the week.
Cooking - ugh:)
ReplyDeleteFor special occasions I will make an effort though. But ever since my first born spat out my painstackingly pureed swede I've just never felt the same way about it:)
Amen.You seem to be echoing my feelings. I manage to cook well enough but it is mainly due to practice and it is certainly not the most important mission in my life. I always feel that we Indians attach too much importance to cooking.
ReplyDeleteHG, I do agree that Indians seem to attach too much importance to food.
ReplyDeleteTo all the others, I also think that to be a really good cook [and therefore critic of others' food too],one needs a very sensitive tongue. I think its a bit like being a wine taster or tea taster or something. Without that, I think the food maybe good but not brilliant.
Anyway, I'm very much in the 'eat to live' category and most def not in the 'live to eat' category :-)
Thanks O! :-D
ReplyDeleteHGM,
ReplyDeleteMy mom always believed that she was a so-so cook. I thought she made the world's tastiest food. Really. And I could never understand why she had doubts about her cooking.
I so agree with lawyeramma's sentiments.
I hope not! I hate to cook
ReplyDeleteI think it doesn't matter if you are a good cook or not, if you are a loving mother, your kids are going to remember that with fondness.
ReplyDeleteWhat i remember & crave about my mom's dishes is her. I miss the familiarity of her being in the dishes I eat today.