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By Root 305 0

taste habits never completely die out. They seem to leave their mark on us and often dictate the areas that we are willing to explore or not explore as adults. That is why I feel, rather strongly, that children should be exposed to not only the best foods but also foods of as many different countries as possible. Culinary insularity is really nothing more than a set of stubborn taste habits. And the best way to break these habits is through enlightened exposure at an early age. You’d be surprised at what some children are willing to try if adults are not sitting there looking apprehensive. I’ve had my daughters’ American friends drop by and eat, with great relish, all sorts of Indian foods, including betel nuts! I keep my brass betel box in the living room. By now I am quite accustomed to seeing my daughters’ friends come through the front door, say hello, walk straight to the betel box, rifle it, scattering seeds all over the floor, and then calmly walk on to the children’s room, munching away like any Indian child. They seem to love the cauliflower cooked with fresh ginger and the chicken cooked with whole spices, and the marinated butterflied leg of lamb is, of course, an all-time favorite. One group of girls astonished me by eating (and enjoying) some hot mango pickle! All these children are under twelve years of age and belong to the same pizza-Coke sorority that we have long despaired of.

I have tried to begin each chapter with the simpler recipes—those which are easier to make and not too surprising to the palate.

At the end of each recipe I give serving suggestions in which I sometimes indicate if the dish is one which is likely to find popularity with children. Don’t underestimate them. They’ll surprise you. I remember so well one of our trips to Paris. We were seated in a restaurant slightly beyond our means, studying our menus, when my husband asked the children what appetizer they wanted. The eldest, who was supposed to be studying French, didn’t want to admit that she couldn’t understand a word of the menu, so she countered with, “Well, what are you having?” My husband translated that section of the menu and said he was having snails and would they like to try that. Two children immediately turned up their noses and said, “Eeeu,” a favorite word in school that year. The third, whose glasses always seem to rest halfway down her nose, peered over them at my husband and asked, “Do you like snails?” My husband said he liked them very much. She looked up at the ceiling for a good minute as if consulting someone in that direction and then said, “Okay, I’ll try ’em.” Well, she loved them and now orders snails at every opportunity she gets.

Try out these Indian dishes on your whole family. Take some of them with you on picnics. You’ll be amazed to see how fast they are eaten up.

There is another group of people for whom this book should prove very useful. And they are vegetarians. One of the hardest things to find in this country is a good, balanced, fresh vegetarian meal. The choice seems to lie between macaroni and cheese, salads, raw or boiled vegetables, cheeses and fruit. The reason is that the American menu is planned around meat, poultry, or fish, the vegetables being either just accessories or, as in the case of the slice of tomato and leaf of lettuce served with hamburgers, mere adornments. This country has not developed a vegetarian cuisine because, until now, there seemed to be no need for it. But a lot of young Americans are turning to vegetarianism because of a horror of all forms of killing, and a lot of older Americans are turning to it out of despair—they are wary of beef, pork, and lamb because of cholesterol, wary offish because of mercury pollution, veal is ridiculously expensive, and just how many days a week can you eat chicken?

I happen to feel that Indian vegetarian food is perhaps the best in the world. It almost has to be. Our vegetarian population goes into the hundred millions! The Brahmins, upper-caste Hindus from both North and South India, rarely touch meat, fish, or eggs. The Buddhists