Food cooked by our mothers and grandmothers — be it traditional or non-traditional — are dear to our hearts. A tomato pickle made by my maternal grandmother and sarkarai dosai (sugar dosa) made by my paternal grandmother remain etched in my memory and always bring a smile to my face when I recollect the memories intertwined with them.
Most women are influenced by their mothers, grandmothers and mothers-in-law in the kitchen. Each family has a treasure trove of recipes that are a reflection of these influences along with factors such as travel, interests, health, likes and dislikes. Some recipes evolve over generations and take on new avatars based on our individuality and personal style.
Fifty years ago, most family recipes were traditional and largely featured local and seasonal produce cooked using traditional techniques. Today our taste buds have evolved thanks to travel and the availability of new produce and condiments in our supermarkets. Home cooks have been experimenting and treating their families to a variety of cuisines.
We all grow up eating what our mothers cooked for us. After marriage, the food traditions of the spouse’s family start to influence us as well. The children get exposed to both styles and, in the process, some new dishes are born. Food-related shows on TV and travel kindle an interest for new tastes and, along the way, some experimental dishes become family-favourites and a main stay on the dining table.
Sometimes our cooking is also influenced by our neighbours and friends. When recipes are shared, Sindhi mutton chops are cooked in a Chettiar household or Kerala prawn moili or mutton stew is the appam ’s new best friend instead of the korma in a Tamil kitchen. Over time, the borders blur and taste is all that matters. These newly acquired recipes will become common in their new-found homes and go down in the annals as family recipes after some time.
Not many of us take the effort to collect and record the recipes from our grandmothers, mothers and mothers-in-law. We often get a recipe on the phone and scribble it on a piece of paper. It stays pinned on the fridge for a few weeks and is forgotten once the paper disappears. Some recipes perish along with our culinary icons, and we can only reminisce about what great cooks they were and miss the dishes they cooked for us.
Each of us should start to collect and document these recipes, for these can’t be found in store-bought cookbooks and online food websites. Some recipes are so simple with such few ingredients that publishers or authors of cookbooks might think of them as insignificant. For instance, my grandmother’s mushroom gravy has just five ingredients but is one of the star dishes from her kitchen. It does not even have a proper name and I would not know where to begin looking for it in recipe books.
Creative binders and scrap books are readily available in stores these days. The recipe collection can be filed away for future reference. Even a simple notebook is sufficient to start documenting these recipes. A family recipe book is a meaningful gift to a daughter/son or niece/nephew who is getting married and relocating to start a new life. It is a precious gift and will help them remember their heritage and family traditions through food.
As Lathika George, author of The Suriani Kitchen , rightly says, “As families and communities get increasingly scattered across the globe, it is important to document recipes of family favourites and their accompanying narratives. In a rapidly changing world, culinary traditions may soon be the only constant link to our unique cultural identities.”
Family recipes should be cherished just like old family photographs. Every time you remember your loved ones, recreate one of the dishes from your collection and let the memories from the good old days embrace and comfort you.
