June 30th at 12:11am IST
“Eat this egg”
My family’s love language is food.
Now there’s definitely a stereotype that brown families tend to feed you until you explode, and I’ve definitely had my share of food-induced naps since I’ve been in India, but my family is next level. They take it as a personal insult not only to themselves but also their heritage if you refuse the food they offer, and one time when I tried to say no to dessert, my grandfather looked at me pleadingly and said, “Eat it for the sake of my sister. It’s for family honor.”
I’ve been interviewing my family members to learn more about our family history, so I asked my cousin what her favorite thing to do with her family is, and she immediately said “eating meals together.” I asked my great aunt what she remembers most about the relationship between her husband and his brothers, she laughed and said, “They ALWAYS talked about food!
They don’t just talk about it though, they put it in practice. The other day, I really wasn’t hungry at dinner because the whole aforementioned phenomenon had taken place and I was so full from lunch 7 hours ago, so my aunt very considerately said that I didn’t have to eat dinner if I didn’t want to. I was shocked that I had gotten away with actually stopping when I was full, but I should have known better, because at midnight, I was halfway asleep when I heard her call my name. I lifted my head and opened my eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness when I finally focus on my aunt holding a bowl. “You didn’t eat dinner properly,” she says, “so eat this egg.” I laughed because I thought she was joking, but she seized that opportunity to put a whole hard-boiled egg in my mouth.
I told everyone this story the following morning, and she defended herself saying, “I’m feeding you now because you won’t eat and who knows who will feed you in the hostel?” I told her that she should come to Hyderabad and feed me, and she said that if she could teleport back and forth and bring me food she would, before proceeding to give me a plate of fruit.
My family’s love for food isn’t really something I’ve tapped in on too much yet, but I’ve been told that Hyderabad is a foodie’s haven, so I was introduced by my cousins to the famous Barbeque Nation, which is a grill-in-front-of-you place (I’m sure there’s an actual word for it) that also has an expansive buffet and dessert counter.
We were there for about 3 hours, and a lot of our time was spent seeing who could make the food steam the most as it came off the skewer. I learned about so many dishes that I had never heard of before, so obviously I took it upon myself to try EVERYTHING, which I quickly figured out is next to impossible.
Overall I’ve had a 10/10 experience with my culinary endeavors in India so far, and it’s true what they say: there’s always room for dessert.
Editor’s (a.k.a Yasmeen Manzur) Note: It’s entirely clear that the love languages being represented are acts of service (making food for your family) and quality time (eating with said family) come on Sunitha we are the experts here 😅
