No Deeper love than Food.... Part 1

No Deeper love than Food... I totally believe in this saying and I am a mom. 

All my life or lets say adult life I have been traveled in one or the other way either its in the city going from place to place, in the country from a state to another or to various countries and when ever I have traveled one thing that constantly grabbed my attention was the variety of food that is available.

I always say that I live to eat and I love to eat and I am totally addicted to exploring new food and new taste. When First time I saw the animation Ratatouille I could totally relate to Remmy ( the Rat) and I still remember the scene where he had the strawberry and cheese together and then the fireworks... many a times  I get the same feeling when I try a new flavor.

Since my love to food is relay long and deep I will not be able to cover in one post hence in this one I would like to talk about how it all started. 

Many of us go through various phases of food habits in our adolescence. I was Vegetarian and than Non vegetarian and than Vegan trying to find the right thing to do between debating whats right ans whats not and in between all of this happened my first trip to Thailand.

 I had to spend 10 days in Bangkok and at that I was following vegetarianism , trust me if you are new to Bangkok and all alone it can get difficult. For a few days I survived on salads. fruits and yogurt with I am sure accidentally eating bacon and shrimp in salad.....one day  I finally gave up. I have been non vegetarian in past hence it was not difficult for me to have chicken and so I ordered the Thai Mussamun Curry with is made of  Chicken, Potatoes and Peanuts because the description in the menu sounded safe to me. One bite of that curry with the stocky rice.........  I had the Remmy moment from Ratatouille which is when I fell in love with Food.

In that moment I realized that food is not for stomach but for mind and most importantly for heart. Good food make your happy it make you full but it also makes you happy you just need to feel that .

By not exploring the food and sticking to the safe zone we might be doing an injustice to yourself.  Trust me when I say you learn so much about the culture and people when you explore their local food.

Since than I have not stopped I explore as much as possible as weird as it may sound. People ask me ..."You are an Indian so you must not be eating this and I say... I eat every thing as long as its not moving". Jokes apart we all might have a limit to exploration of food even I cannot eat a lot of things but do try my best to eat and enjoy what ever I can. 

Some of my best memories of travel are related to good food and that's what I miss the most when I do not travel. As far as the debate of Vegetarian and Non Vegetarian is concerned I am a science student and understand the importance of food chain and.... we are on top of it.

Bon Appétit!

Ship paste and some fried tofu ready to get in to the Hot Pot...The lau

Baked Oysters with cheese from the night market food joints - Vietnam

Deep fried fish floating market - Thailand 

Sate with lovely sweet sauce in Indonesia 

Refreshing Shrimp Salad

The first one

When I was a kid I was scared like all the other kids to go out by myself, and then came a time where that's all I want to do. We learn the importance of personal space and self love over a period of time the more you get it the more you rejoice. 

Since men has been living in community over ages we get use to of the comfort in companionship , team and groups. But once you go solo the high is beyond explanation ... having said that its also a fact that its not everyone's cup of tea.

So my first... lets talk about the first time I took a solo travel, I was in graduation and my collage was one of the most politically active one and I was not. There were strikes and protest and during one such seasonal activity I decided to go home by myself and surprise my parents.

There was no possibility of getting a reservation so the first dare was to take a general ticket and travel in Sleeper class... I still cant believe I was this brave. So I did it and the journey started,  to my luck the Ticket Collector did not come for the longest time and it was day journey. by the time TT came I was almost there to be correct the station I had to get down to was the next... when the TT asked for money since I produced the general class ticket all I said was ...."well you cannot even force me to get down the train since the next stop is mine". I was an idiot or very courageous I am still to conclude on that . 

I got down from train and had to take a bus to the next stop ... FYI I have never travel via this route so this was the second dare. Took a rick to the bus stop and being the classic me, my dupatta got stuck in the rickshaw wheel the whole dupatta got messed up with the grease. Some how managed to board the bus and  reached my home town by the time the grease from dupatta has spread all over my dress and I was looking like a beggar with hair all over the place .

Had to get into a shared Auto and reached home in a travel time of 14 hours. With all the efforts I had put the expression of my parents was of anger and concern towards the fact I came alone without informing them and my mother particularly for me to spoil a good dress.

When I turned on the shower to get over all the travel dust and of course the grease I realized I will never get over one thing............. the adrenaline I have experienced all through the day.  I still remember that journey so clearly, like all the first ones in our life . I still feel that adrenaline when ever I embark a travel on my own.

If one has not traveled by themselves they have not done enough for themselves....  

           The ray of sun and the ray of Hope at the same time a few years back at Kanyakumari.