Food Show And Chinese Cuisine

The other day, my children and I watched  some wonderful authentic  cooking which was telecasted on one of our  favourite food  channel.Watching the  program  took  me  to several places and to a totally different culture.A culture which reveres in upholding customs and traditions. More so it let me virtually wander across to the land which prides on the  great wall and much more.Furthermore just discussing views and opinions about  their food  can get your  taste buds tantalized.
Chinese cooking sketches back since times gone by and now have become more and more popular in other parts of the world.The Chinese  pride themselves on eating an extensive range of foods. Chinese dishes are often  prepared in bite-sized pieces, to make it easy for   picking and shoving into the mouth.They also love to use chopsticks at the table. Traditional Chinese cuisine is also based on opposites  balancing hot with  cold, pickled with fresh and spicy with mild. They  also take pleasure in  eating exotic stuff. Many would go out of the way to taste some extraordinary speclalities like snakes,insects and bugs. Well!Well! Count me out please! I‘vd rather have the pleasure of watching them creeping and crawling  in and out of a mud –splattered backyard than savor them 'barbecued' and  in my platter all oozing  with sauces and dressings.

Food shows are a  motivation for foodies like me.They help us cultivate different skills and techniques in the kitchen and in our cooking styles. Learning to cook  food other than our staple foods  is itself  a great achievement .Years ago ,as a young girl, I used to watch  a cooking show called Yan Can cook,a program hosted by a young Chinese foodie/chef who did a lot of humorous acts while demonstrating his gastronomic know-hows.I loved watching him cook delicious  meals (the usual kind of food –not the exotic type). This show was very popular in most homes because of his exclusivity: cooking and performing  comic acts.At the end of the show he would sign off with his ever famous  line 'If Yan can cook, so can you.’.That  one liner, I believe, was in some way the motivation behind my interest in  cookery.However only after I  got married I put my skills into practice.Initially, I  had  tried a few of the simple dishes this master chef had presented on the show, but regretfully the dishes never really reached up to mark or came anywhere close to  them.All the same I never gave up.Learning through  trial and error, I somehow  managed to pass the  experimental tests ( the judges through out have been my children and hubby).I am regretful that I never mastered Chinese cooking but in spite of everything, I am still  grateful for that ‘cooking show', which paved the way significantly in  arousing my interest in cooking.And  from  being an  edgy cook with a great deal of kitchen disasters,I can now  pompously say  I have gained  some confidence and   occasionally  serve  delectable food to my guests at home.

Ahh!! I see the glimmer in my children’s eyes, an optical expression I often witness when I make an assurance.Yes! I did promise them to spend more time reviving  Chinese  delights from the food channel.


                                        Chinese Food In Saudi Arabia

Prawns coated in batter and fried 

Fried Noodles

Chicken Corn Soup

                                      

Food Addictives And Allergies

A few years back, it was distressing for my husband and I, to see our younger daughter fall sick, every time she ate some of her favourite food. She would either start coughing; a nagging cough which would linger for sometime or she would get itchy red bumps on her arms, sometimes on her face, (later I learnt the red bumps were hives.). We were clueless as to why she got them constantly.

After many visits to the hospital we learnt that it was due to an allergic reaction, but was not certain what triggered the “hives” on her. The thought of this, gave us many sleepless nights and constant worries, until one day our very own Sri Lankan Doctor, a paediatrician, who was attached to a reputed facility in Saudi Arabia, who on learning of our daughter’s condition helped us identify the root cause of her allergy. She was vulnerable  not only to certain foods like coloured candies and coloured drinks, but also to the strong smell of perfume, washing powder, bleach etc, all, with a considerable amount of additive compounds in them. Gradually, with much cajoling, we made her stop eating her favourite titbits like the multi coloured candies, chocolate chips and the luminous coloured drinks. After following the doctor's advice and guidelines, we saw a vast improvement in our daughter’s health. He helped us to keep a food diary and note carefully for any adverse reactions whenever she ate food. In the case of a sensitivity being identified, the practice was to eliminate all suspected foods from the diet and then reintroduce them one by one, to see which additive (or additives) caused the reaction. This was done under the supervision of this good-hearted doctor, whom we are ever grateful to. With the invaluable information on food allergies/additives, which my husband and I acquired, each time we accompanied our daughter, during the fortnightly visits to the doctor, we have become more selective in the choice of food we consume.

 Our distressing nightmare maybe over, but with four growing children and their immune system  different from one another, I sometimes  get the creeps to think,  what if , one of them  goes through that agony again.

( - This is an excerpt from my published article- )