It's simplicity, with a little kick

Too many eggshells vs. too much careful treading

As an Indian, I have often found myself in that irritatingly awkward situation of someone telling me they do not like Indian food, attempting to justify it to me and eventually finishing with ‘I hope I am not being offensive’. My honest answer in that situation is, I really do not care why you do not like Indian food. Am I offended? No. Will I be bringing you a home cooked curry to make you try ‘real’ Indian food? No.

I totally agree there is a difference between take-away Indian food and home cooked Indian food, but I don’t expect you to like either. Just because I am Indian, it does not automatically mean I will tell everyone I was offended when you told me you do not eat Indian food.

Let us turn the tables for just a minute, and let me tell you I do not like the smell of bacon, I have never tried bangers and mash (and never intend to) and I also do not understand why people like chips and gravy or ‘SPAM’. As a British person, are you offended by my words? I would hope you aren’t, and if you are then I don’t think I truly need to apologise because not a single ounce of me intends to offend you or your culinary practices.

I totally get that some people do not ‘get’ the mixture of spices in Indian food. Just as you might order a burger instead of a curry, I would order a burger instead of a Chinese take away. And that’s ok. I’m not saying I would never eat Chinese food because I hate the Chinese culture, it is simply the taste.

In some ways, this all stems from the over exaggeration pumped by a minority of individuals around cultural ignorance and cultural appropriation. People are too scared to say they do not like something in fear that they will be accused of being culturally ignorant or worse still, racist. We do not need to like every single piece of food that ever comes our way because if we did, quite frankly it would be strange. We have sour, sweet, spicy, mild, hot and cold for a reason. It is to describe the feelings brought upon our taste buds. I’m sure that if I told you I don’t like Snickers you wouldn’t think of me as an intolerant, ignorant human being would you?

So please, if you ever want to tell someone you don’t like a curry or chinese, just say it. Don’t attempt to justify your likes and dislikes, we live in a world [that should be] better than that.

All love xoxo