A Life Of Spice: Stories of food, culture and life

by Monica Saigal Bhide

Food is such an intimate experience, even more so than sex. Everything we put in our mouth touches our insides, affects how we grow, affects how we age, affects how we behave. It defines who we are. And yet there is such an aversion in many Western cultures to touching it.

When I worry obsessively about something, my father reminds me of an old Indian saying: “Aam khao, ped kyon ginte ho.” Translated literally, it means: Enjoy your mango, and don’t worry too much about which particular tree it comes from.