Childhood memories are the perfect way to connect our past to our present!
Last week over at CulturallyOurs, I shared a very special episode. An episode where I had the tables turned on me and was interviewed by my friend Cheri Dost. Cheri took me down memory lane as she asked me about my childhood and what life was like growing up in Bombay, India. If you haven’t heard the episode yet, go take a listen.
As part of the episode, I asked you all what were some of your core memories of life or family and home? And if there are certain experiences that brought you right back to a place and time of your past?
Thank you to Bina, for sharing this beautiful memory from her childhood. Bina is a food blogger and recipe developer from Atlanta and she shares her love for food through her blog Abitwholesomely
I love how Bina takes us back with her as she remembers the exact moment when she got interested in food as a way to connect with the world around her.
From Bina,
I have very vivid memories of lunchtime during fifth grade, when I had just moved to a new city. Our group of girls dressed similarly in beige school uniforms with a red sash around the waist, hair smoothed with coconut oil and neatly tied into two braids with red ribbons. Each day, we would make our way to the gulmohur tree at the far corner of the school yard. Settling into a circle, sitting cross-legged on the bare dirt under the shade of its flaming orange blossoms, we would reach for our lunchboxes.
Some like mine were simple, rectangular plastic boxes with a small compartment for condiments or snacks, while others were the metal two-tiered tiffin carriers so common in India. Placing our lunchboxes in front of us, we would open the lids, curious to see what our moms had packed for us that day – all while sneaking occasional sidelong glances to scope out the contents of the other lunchboxes around us. You see, we had an unwritten rule among ourselves that each lunchbox would first be passed around in a circle for everyone to have a taste before you settled down to eat your meal. Sharing our meals with our friends was a given.
In my new circle of friends from different parts of the country, my world opened up to the magical diversity of food, especially Indian food! I discovered the tangy and feather light white ‘dhokla’ from Gujarat, the carrot-pea vegetable and ‘sookhi urad dal’ with paratha from Punjab, the hearty ‘thalipeeth’ made from millet flour from Maharashtra, the black gram curry from Bengal, the fenugreek leaf curry from the Bohri community, and the ‘sai bhaji’ that my Sindhi friend had in her lunchbox. Simple food that was freshly made that morning for all to share!
From then on, whenever we meet at the homes of these friends, you would invariably find me in the kitchen watching their moms cook, and sometimes asking questions so I could go home and pester my own mother to try and recreate those dishes. That year in fifth grade in a new city at a new school, my passion for food was born. I learned that food is more than just what appeals to our taste buds. It is about connections and sharing, discovery and friendships, and most of all, acceptance. I realized that food truly is nourishment for the mind, body and soul.
Words and photo credit: Bina from Abitwholesomely
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