Indian Food 101

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Juniper

If we go in the evening or on a weekend, I'd like to bring my daughter too. My son and hubby won't eat that stuff, but daughter is more adventurous. And if it has potatoes in it, she's happy.

One of the things my parents did to me that I'm still bitter about is to ruin me on Indian food for years. They would occasionally go on campaigns to force new foods upon us, and at some point they took us to an Indian restaurant. Since I had no idea what to order, they ordered for me. To this day I don't know what they got me, but it was disgusting. All vegetables, in an incredibly spicy and somehow slightly bitter sauce.

So I thought I hated Indian food. I didn't find out how wrong I was until college, when I got invited on a date and was too chicken to tell the guy I hated Indian food. Of course I loved everything on my random sampler plate that I ordered, which was of course made up of basic, crowd-pleasing dishes. I don't know what in the hell my mom and stepdad were thinking--I honestly suspect they were expecting me to say I hated it no matter what, so they got me something weird to punish me.

None of which applies to you, Juniper, because I'm sure you're not into subconsciously torturing your daughter. I just thought I'd share.

[Juniper]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

None of which applies to you, Juniper, because I'm sure you're not into subconsciously torturing your daughter. I just thought I'd share.

Oh, no no no. If I were into torturing my kids, I'd bring my son along. He is very picky. I do like him to try new foods, but it's a very slow process and I won't force him to do more than taste things.

My daughter is pretty adventurous. I took her to this one restaurant a while back - Cena, I think it was called - and it was really weird. Buffet style sides, and then these people came around to tables with meat and carved you a little bit - different kinds in rotation. We enjoyed it but I'm not sure we'll go back. Still, she took it like a real trouper.

I also need to take her to the German restaurant in Newport. She's taking German this year (and also had classes half of last year) and is really fascinated with the culture.

I love to open their horizons. But you have to tailor the experiences to the kid's interests. For my daughter, food is the path to her heart. My son is more interested in art and music. Fortunately, I love it all.