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CULTURAL SENSITIVITY IN THE KITCHEN

A Table for many Cultures

It is essential to cater to different cultural tastes as the perfect host. Adaptability to the availability of ingredients and matching the cooking to the palates or tastes of your guests is so important in preparing for a party.  One must take into account not only the cultural tastes but also the individual preferences as well of all your guests. A detailed and careful preparation will never let you down.

Your sensitivity towards your guests specially in food will be felt and appreciated greatly as well as create a lasting impression on them in the form of a most perfect lovely evening. My parents were a famous couple in the diplomatic circle in Japan as in entertaining and hosting parties they demonstrated a lot of sensitivity. A leading magazine “Good Day” featured them too as one of the famous Diplomatic Parties Hosts. My mother always introduced a tinge of flavours from various cultures in her cuisine. No wonder her book and TV programs became so famous too at the time. The same special touch was added to the music and the drinks for the party as well.

My parents won prizes in “Kikkoman” Cooking Contests as well because of the fact that they introduced a tinge of Japanese flavour in their Indian dishes. They always kept in mind the preferences of their guests and catered to the tastes of all countries at their home parties. The food at their parties truly represented a fusion of many cultures. Today it has become even more important to find out more about different cultural preferences in food in order to combine those tastes with your food to entertain well...

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SHALL WE DANCE???

Life is a Tango 

Life in a relationship is a dance…I want him to lead and I want to follow…

I was reading about Tango and it’s different forms. This dance has always fascinated me. I feel in many ways Life is a Tango…in a relationship. A man leads in life and if he misses a step or falters, the dance could end there and then…It also depends on both the man and woman as to how to create a beautiful experience in the journey of their relationship …

What is important is how he leads and how she follows… to create a beautiful dance in life without tripping each other. A dance like Tango can be experienced in a marriage with beautiful and precise  steps. Each step must be taken with care and each movement must be graceful in a relationship to create such a beautiful dance.

The Tango dancers dance in a closed embrace with legs relaxed and slightly bent…that’s how a relationship between couples should be. Love should embrace the couple yet it should not suffocate them. There should be optimum communication.  They should find solace and peace in each other’s love and bend the rules a bit to avoid rigidity of any kind in that beautiful emotion. They should flexibly adjust to each others’ needs in a relationship just like the Nuevo Tango’s frame called an ‘embrace’ or ‘abrazo’ where the embrace is not rigid but it actually adjusts to different steps. Of course occasional gymnastic lifts, kicks and drops like Tango are natural in a relationship to make the journey of love interesting. But whatever may come, the dance of a relationship should not lose grace and beauty.