Southern India Meal

The hotel that I am staying in has 9 different restaurants. Tonight, three of my colleagues came over from the office and took me to one that serves southern Indian cuisine. One of the women that I was with knows that I love Indian food so she usually just orders a variety of items and explains the dishes as they come out. The food was spectacular - we had all sorts of things I cannot pronounce but can confirm they were delicious.

The three of them had many discussions about how they cook this food since all three are from Southern India. They were talking about disguising vegetables in rice cakes (not those airy rice cakes people eat on diets in the US - these are actually really tasty) so they could get their kids to eat them. Southern Indians typically make rice bread instead of wheat bread since rice is the primary cereal they grow. They were also discussing how to substitute ingredients so that the dishes could be converted to vegetarian. Two of them are currently adhering to a vegetarian diet due to religious reasons. This is just a temporary thing but was interesting to hear about.

We also had some great discussions about the traditions in India. It made me realize that we really don't have that many traditions within the US. We have a few but they don't seem to be to the extent that they have here. Some are related to holidays and festival periods but some are just daily and weekly traditions. Some of them seemed very cumbersome (their words, not mine) and some they thoroughly enjoyed. I really love that they are so open about sharing their culture and heritage - both the good and the bad.

We ended the night with some great conversation about where to travel in India. I was pointing out to them that I've never taken extra time and toured the country. In a matter of 15 minutes they gave me more than enough options on places to go. They also acknowledged that they were guilty of not seeing a lot of their own country. One of the women had never even been to see the Taj Mahal...can you believe it...the Taj Mahal? I guess that is understandable since there are people in the US who have never been to Washington DC or the Grand Canyon (I am guilty of the latter).

I am heading to bed tonight happy. I had a great day at the office, am reading a good book, had a delicious dinner, enjoyed excellent company, learned a bit about food and culture, and have a lot of ideas on where to take some upcoming vacations.