Food and love
It’s only since I moved to Australia that I placed such a great importance on food. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always loved to eat. But over here, there’s almost been a.. religious obsession over finding a place with good (Singaporean) food that I never had before. I guess it’s like the Counting Crows song - you don’t know a good thing till it’s gone.
So anyway, there’s this particular dish I’ve been craving for ever since I left home - my mom’s Bombay Biryani. And yea, you might be thinking, ‘What does a Chinese woman know about cooking an Indian dish?’ but let me tell you, it’s magical biryani. Spicy and flavourful with chicken that’s tender and melts in your mouth, and ohmygod dip a pappadam into the gravy and when you put it in your mouth it’s a wonderful explosion of Indian awesomeness. Plus, my mom only cooks it during special occasions (I have to request for it as my birthday food and I’d rather forgo cake) because it takes a lot of time and effort to prepare. I’ve seen her slaving in the kitchen for hours making this yummy dish. JSYK, I really love this biryani.
When my mom came down to Melbourne a couple weeks ago she made a few batches (it was my fault really, I couldn’t stop bragging about it to all our family friends) that everyone devoured. The first time I got to eat it when I met her in Sydney, I nearly cried with happiness because of that feeling of getting something you’ve been waiting so long for. There were no leftovers when she cooked them for friends. And on the last day of her stay, she cooked me an extra batch to freeze and eat (per my request). There are boxes of frozen biryani just sitting in my freezer, waiting to be eaten.
In fact, I just finished one box of it for my dinner. And as I was eating, there was this feeling of happiness and sadness at the same time. I rarely eat food and attach emotion to it, but for this box of biryani (and all the ones I’ve eaten since my mom left, and for all the ones I’m going to finish) there was such a bittersweet feeling of gratitude and joy at eating something so yummy, and at the same time such a longing to have my mom be right beside me to enjoy it together.
I think I know what it is that makes it so special - it’s love condensed into food.
