Food shows

Earlier, I wrote about guilt related to consuming content on the internet.

I got rid of that feeling by watching shows which I need not binge. Food shows seemed just right. Food is so central to all our lives and intertwined with the history, culture, and sociology of a people that it can't be dull.

While growing up, I remember watching khana khazana. On most Sunday afternoons, it was a show my mother enjoyed watching. She would make notes on some of the recipes and try some of them out. I wasn't big on food back then.

After my 10th-grade exams, my parents enrolled me in a cooking class. You must be thinking, "How unnecessary!" But more than cooking, my parents thought it would be helpful to learn to commute alone. It worked. I learned to commute alone, be alert, and few cooking basics.

And that cooking class helped me look at food differently. I enjoyed meal prep quite a bit. It is the part that precedes the actual cooking. But due to hectic college schedules and long commutes, I didn't cook often.

Co-incidentally or otherwise, the Sociology of Food was my study for one of my college semesters. After understanding food from a practical perspective, diving into the societal context around food was the cherry on the cake. It cemented my relationship with food.

I stopped consuming food for the sake of it. It was as if the food came alive for me (not in the literal sense because I prefer vegetarian), but the food was no longer just about health or nutrition. Some of my friends and I also curated a food walk in the city.

Food shows further sparked that academic interest. It transformed my content consumption too. I didn't feel guilty consuming food content.