As with many other people around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic brought my whirlwind life to a pause, and led me to re-examine my priorities in life. Sometimes deliberately, sometimes out of necessity, I began to embrace a slower pace of life. This is the first in a series that I plan to write about my attempts at finding the right rhythm of life. (In music Tempo Giusto means to play in exact time.)
In the fast-paced life that we lead today
There is no time to eat food the traditional way
Even for healthy snacks packaged options abound
Low calorie, low carbohydrate goods I see all around
Traditional Indian food is cooked the tedious way
I certainly don’t have those kind of hours in a day
To chop vegetables, pound spices, cook on a slow flame
So what if instant food does not taste the same
There are many ways to nourish my family, I believe
By sacrificing time on elaborate meals, nothing I would achieve
Except the need to cut corners elsewhere
There are only 24 hours in a day; I’m quite aware
**
So I used to think, eating out frequently
Was the way for me to preserve my sanity
Then COVID hit and out of the blue
Eating out became a necessary taboo
Even grocery shopping needed to be deliberate
With more time at home, I’m happy to state
I decided to go back to my roots in the kitchen
To cook meals from relative scratch, and then
The whole family chimed in, enticed by the aromatic milieu
We were reminded of what food was supposed to do-
To awaken all five senses, create a sense of well-being
Which was so crucial amid the devastation we were seeing
Dicing onions finely, pounding cloves of garlic
Adding flavorful herbs freshly picked
Simmering food over slow flame, mixing and stirring
As we cooked fresh food, a transformation was occurring
From fast food eaters (yes we ate “healthy” packaged stuff)
We became converts to slow food, a few weeks were enough
To teach us the merit of cooking food the way we were meant
To prepare it culturally, to provide a sense of fulfillment
Regarding time…we all understand how
We adjust our schedules to allow
Indulgence in what we like to do
That became true for cooking food too..
Passion...unbridled 