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A close friend of mine is a wonderful chef, but guess what, I can’t enjoy the lovely dishes she learnt how to cook in the lockdown cause I can’t taste them.
For the great Indian families; food is more than a daily essential. Our meals bring people together, sharing stories, anecdotes and fights. In fact, in many Bollywood movies, food has been a big player in establishing relationships and bonds.
The zayka or the flavour of any Indian food item is reminiscent of a memory. The spices add to the flavours of not just the food, but the memory as well. No two people can make the same masoor dal and that is the truth. Every time you eat a dal you made, you make comparisons with other people’s recipes.
COVID, however, has put a break to all this.
Not only have extended family interactions become limited, but people’s tastes have changed as well, quite literally. People now complain of not being able to enjoy food the same way. And well, the food they enjoy has changed as well.
Like any other family, my kin is very hearty about their meals. Sabzis and daals are the rock of any relationship. The main focus that the day leads up to is, what do we eat?
But the sad part is that COVID has changed this, especially for me. The intimacy is the same, the bond is definitely stronger. However, the loss of taste has soured my mealtime.
When talking about Delhi and food, I could go on and on, raving about the wonderful delicacies the city has to offer. But now, even the most scrumptious of dishes don’t taste like anything edible. Imagine eating Paneer Shashlik with the taste of rubber.
The lack of smell and taste has reduced the fun in most interactions. I can no longer appreciate the best of things. I sit here writing this in a five-star hotel, where my family enjoyed the meal and all I could taste was garlic. Imagine, spending all that money for lehsun and nothing else, not even the Dal Makhani cooked over 48 hours. My mood could earlier be rectified with a dollop of Hot Chocolate Fudge ice cream, but I can only taste sugar now, and not in a good way.
Meals and desserts are very much a part of family life. Mealtimes are when the entire family sits together, sharing their day and their future. But for me, it has become a time when I don’t know whether I want to eat or not. I plate my food with a lot of excitement and it fizzles out with the first morsel.
A close friend of mine is a wonderful chef, but guess what, I can’t enjoy the lovely dishes she learnt how to cook in the lockdown cause I can’t taste them. She doesn’t hate me for it, but I do certainly detest this. Tori, Paneer, Pasta and Pizza all taste the same to me, tasteless.
It sounds wonderful for all those who want to lose weight. In fact, a friend of mine suggested I should eat healthier since taste is no bar now and I don’t mind this bright side. But yes, this is definitely adding to the list of why I hate COVID. It has been almost a year since I recovered, but have I really?
Image source: a still from the film 2 States
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