Growing up, I firmly believed that my mother was the best cook in the world. No restaurant could satisfy me as much as a bowl of her moong dal and a steaming cup of rice. With age and distance from home, this feeling has only intensified. Of course, I recognise this is not an objective truth. You, reading this, probably feel a need to protest and say: no, actually your mom holds magic in her hands, and no one else’s food compares. Our upbringings shape our tastes, and the fulfilment we get from a meal can be a matter of sentiment just as much as of flavour. 

In a similar vein, the dishes we grew up eating are not just the product of ingredients coming together; they’re an amalgamation of our cultural values and history. This remains just as true on a microcosmic, familial level, as each family has its own beliefs, histories, and subsequently, recipes.

Recipes are time capsules that keep family legacies alive as they’re passed from generation to generation. Even the passage of this knowledge acts as an opportunity for family elders and their children to connect through the celebration of their heritage. As a result, your tastes are shaped by the unique recipes you grew up eating, and reciprocally, these recipes remain special through your engagement with them. 

In the digital age, however, convenience often supersedes tradition. Why make the effort of asking your grandmother for a recipe when millions are readily available at your fingertips? 

A simple Google search for 'dal recipes' yields almost 240 million search results in under half a second. The first of them details a moong dal made with coconut milk. It’s an addition that would be blasphemous in my household but could very well be essential to the recipe in another. Of the next hundreds of millions of options, there are sure to be many that can satisfy your cravings. But, at the end of the day, the dal you find online will never taste like your mom’s. 

This is not to say that we shouldn’t experiment with foods other than the ones we know. Culinary exploration is a fun, exciting way to learn more about other cultures as well as your own tastes! However, when we abandon our family’s ways of cooking for those of world-famous chefs, the unique tastes that we grew up with risk disappearing forever. This is especially true considering that most food media caters towards a wide audience, ranging drastically in taste and sensitivity. When it comes to Indian recipes, following recipes for a general audience may end up sacrificing the rich flavour and spices that make our foods special. 

Remember, we can always embrace the new while still honouring our traditions. So this is your sign to call up your grandma and ask, how does she get that one dish to taste so damn good?

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