This episode is a conversation we had with Mansi Zaveri from Kidsstoppress, where she spoke to us about the importance of teaching our kids about food cultures, why we should preserve ours, and why it is important for our kids to understand and adapt to our own food culture.
It so happened some time back that there was this friend of ours who was visiting from the US, who was with me in the kitchen.
I was making masala idli (one of my very own versions). The recipe has some of the most essential spices made in such a way that my daughter loved eating it.
As soon as my friend saw me making this, she asked, “why are you feeding idlis and dosas to your daughter. You should instead feed her something healthy”.
We have always been the monkeying kinds trying to imitate everything from fashion to food from the western culture.
While adopting the “good” is something that should be encouraged, we didn’t just stop at that. We felt it was cool to look, act and eat like the westerners and hence went on a copying and imitating spree.
And when we did it, we forgot the fact that ours was a distinct culture that couldn’t really fit into the realms of the Western culture.
But then, we did it.
Today we have come a full circle.
The world is adopting things that we never valued including our food, our culture, our traditions, etc.
And now, we too are.
One of the things that we got detached from and we are still detached to a great extent is our food culture. Khichdis were replaced by Porridges, Roti Sabzi with Pizzas, Cabbages with Lettuce, and Cauliflowers with Broccolis.
Because these were “cool”!
Our kids too adopted them and got slowly detached from our very own food culture.
But how has that impacted them and us?
Today we have a special guest on our show, who talks to us about our food culture and why it is critical to teach our kids the importance of embracing it.
Embracing our Food Culture with Mansi Zaveri from KidsstopPress
Mansi Zaveri is a well-known name when it comes to parenting tips.
Her website KidsStopPress has helped countless parents in finding answers to questions that they could never really find a reasonable answer for.
For parents who are caught in the middle of the traditional wisdom of parenting and the modern encyclopedias, Kidsstoppress is the perfect guide that combines both of these to give you the ideal parenting tips.
Kidsstoppress is a repository of everything that you as a parent need. You will find parenting tips, useful apps, meal plans, activities for engaging with your kids together as a family, expert advice on physical and mental health, and much more.
In our discussion with Mansi, we spoke about how we are getting detached from our roots when it comes to our food culture and how that is impacting our kids.
A lot of what she shared with us was something that we could very much relate to.
In fact, those were experiences that we had come across many times when we were bringing up our little daughter. And I am sure, a lot of you too would have.
The conversation was so interesting that we did not even realize that we spoke to each other for almost an hour.
Here are some of the things that we discussed in the conversation –
- The need to educate our children about our food culture
- Why is it important to preserve our heirloom recipes
- How foods and recipes impact our children’s immunity
- Why we need to include local and seasonal foods as part of our diet
- Why your children need to be given the power to decide
- How to make screen time a beneficial time
- Why connecting with your child is extremely important for the long term
- The Importance of making our kids choose and decide
Here are some of the resources that Mansi mentioned during the conversation.
Thank You for Joining
We hope you enjoyed this conversation with Mansi.
This is the first of such an interview that we did on the show. If you enjoyed this new format, we would like to continue it and bring more interesting conversations to you.
Just drop a note to us using the contact button, about the names of anybody in particular whom you would like to listen to and what topics you would like us to cover and we will try our level best to include them.
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Do comment below and let me know your thoughts about this episode.
