What will you have for dinner? A question with no clear-cut answer

It’s Monday morning and the husband has just entered the office. He is looking at his watch. The Monday Morning meeting with the company’s stakeholders is scheduled for 11 am. He has just managed to reach on time. The meeting starts exactly as scheduled. After the opening address by the company’s CEO, the husband starts his PowerPoint presentation on the company’s performance. He is on slide 2 and suddenly his mobile phone rings with a ringtone “Wife calling”. He declines the call. But the phone rings again and this time one of the board members asks him to take the call as it’s his wife.

The husband walks out of the conference room and takes the call thinking there is some urgency at home. He is surprised when the spouse on the other side checks with him on what will he have for dinner. The husband is a bit embarrassed. He tells her that is busy in a meeting and that she can make anything she likes.

Most of the time we all have undergone such situations. On one hand, it shows how caring your spouse is. But on the other hand, it also means that the choice of fixing the menu for dinners has still not been fully delegated to her. A simple question from mom to the husband and the kids about what will they have for dinner mostly goes unanswered. However, once the dinner table is laid and mom makes an announcement, the first question that comes from all the interested parties is what are we having for dinner?

Fixing the dinner menu is always a tough choice

In a typical Indian family, the mom runs the kitchen and decides what the family will have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The breakfast menu is the easiest (except on weekends) as the entire family is in a hurry. Kids leave for school and college while husbands leave for the office. Lunch is even easier as the lunch box carries a surprise element for both the kids and the husband.

Most of the time the surprise content of the lunch box comes as a shock for them. Roti and bhindi ki sabzi, roti with aloo-beans, and roti and aloo-gobhi are not the preferred options but being away from home the family members don’t have much say. At times kids prefer eating from the canteen and to ensure that mom doesn’t get upset about finding an untouched lunch box they decide to share the lunch with a friend who loves homemade food.

Dad has daily lunch in the office canteen with 3-4 colleagues. While most of them get homemade food, a couple of them order from the canteen.  One thing good about mom’s cooking is that the entire office crowd is willing to take a bite from dad’s lunch box. Dad gets a kick out of it listening to how his spouse is a good chef. But when it comes to finishing the lunch he tends to leave.

Dinner is served

It is only once they are back from college or the office, they exercise their choice. When mom checks with the family on what will they have for dinner, the members decide to keep her confused. Most of the time the answer that mom gets is “kuuch bhi bana do” meaning make anything. However, as soon as the family sits to dine, each of the members shows displeasure in terms of the food spread. The son and the husband want a non-vegetarian dish while the daughter wants a paneer dish.

As the discussion on the choice of dishes over the dinner table heats up mom gives an ultimatum that she is running a house kitchen and not a cloud kitchen. Also, they should tell her much in advance what they want to have so that she gets enough time to prepare.

What will you have for dinner confuses even the most passionate foodie

The human mind is an enigma that’s difficult to read. When it comes to the selection of dishes that one would like to have for dinner a person is unable to make up his mind till the last minute. And this is the reason why they fail to answer mom’s question when she checks with them on what will they have for dinner.

The son who is still in school loves outside food (read junk) and is always looking for an excuse to order online. On the other hand, the daughter is health (read weight) conscious and prefers homemade food but with a variety of dishes to pick from. Mom often tells her that it is impossible to make a new vegetable dish every day as the season offers only 6-7 choices from gobhi to palak and from matar to beans.

Weakness for non-vegetarian dishes

Dad has a weakness for non-vegetarians. He loves mutton curry but doctors have advised him to avoid red meat. So, he has settled for chicken these days. Dad’s appetite is linked to the dishes served during dinner. If there is sabzi and dal for dinner his appetite is limited to a couple of chapatis. But the moment the dinner menu has chicken curry his appetite doubles.

Sometimes, mom surrenders to the whims and fancies of the family and serves poori with aloo-matar along with pulao and chicken curry on the dining table. She knows very well that not a single soul will complain today. But to make them realize that having fried food is not healthy for the human body she uses the theory of relativity. She settles for chapati instead of poori with a small helping of dal and aloo-matar. Dad asks her to have at least a couple of pooris but she refuses point blank. Dad feels guilty at first but after having the first bite of poori with matar paneer his overpowering taste buds conquer whatever remorse feeling he had about the fried food.

Difficult to get a consensus while ordering food online

Weekends are days when every member of the family shows their concern for mom. Dad tells the kids that he is sponsoring the evening dinner so as to give mom a break and that they can order whatever they feel like. The son immediately gets into action. In a role reversal today mom is bombarded with the same question what will you have for dinner?

Mom’s answer is the same that she gives every weekend. Whatever you people decide I am ok with it. Dad prefers Mughlai any day but their son is keen on a Mexican burrito. The daughter wants to have a Khao-suey, a Tibetan dish. Mom is the only one who has not shown any preference. Her vote will swing the choice of dinner between Mughlai, Mexican, or Chinese. She shows her preference for lachcha paratha and kadhai paneer giving a clear indication that she is siding with dad. The daughter expresses her displeasure saying last weekend also we had Mughlai. The son questions what is this? You people never allow me to order Mexican.

Finally, a consensus is arrived to order pizza that is everybody’s favorite. Mom while having the last bite asks the family what will you have for dinner tomorrow. Let me know in advance so that I can make the preparations.

You can enjoy reading more such stories on my blog. Click on the following link:

Chole Bhature the desi Indian dish that beats a hamburger any day

The yummy paneer that makes a vegetarian’s world yummilicious

You can get some better ideas for Indian meals. Click on the following link:

https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/top-10-main-course-recipes/