Thread by @gauravsabnis

"Dad and Pizza: An Epiphany"

Growing up, I thought of Dad as an unadventurous eater & very much a gharcha jevan (home food) junkie. Mom, though a no-eggs vegetarian, has always been very adventurous in terms of restaurants & cuisines. I thought I got my foodie gene from her. /1

Dad took us to restaurants. But he rarely enjoyed the food. He loved a good vadapav, misal, all Marathi and Indori street food.

But other stuff, he found meh. We'd go home & he'd eat leftover poli bhaaji and THEN look satiated.

He was okay being called a non foodie.

He eats eggs regularly. Makes the best Indian style omelets in the world. He eats some fish and poultry and mutton, but doesn't really relish it the way I do. Basically Dad was never one to suggest a "non-veg" restaurant. He preferred simple Thalis.

Very comfort zone guy.

Or so I thought!!!

Because this time as he visits us, we are all having a realization that whoaaa! Dad is actually a foodie! He wasn't unadventurous. He just has very high standards!

And NY pizza gave us that epiphany!

Here's the story...

It starts in 2015.
Parents were visiting for wife's optometry school graduation. We decided to take them to couples-only Sandals.
It was the first time since 1990 that our family had something resembling disposable income and no liabilities. So that was a surprise splurge.

R & I had been to Sandals before so we knew parents would love it. My only worry was Dad's food situation.
Sandals has multiple restaurants with pretty good food with fresh ingredients in its resorts. But Indian wasn't one of them. So I worried that dad would starve.

Mom I didn't worry about. She loves even gas station Subway sandwiches as long as they are vegetarian. So she'd find something in every restaurant, I was sure.

But dad the usual restaurant hater in a Caribbean resort with no varan bhaat?

We packed lots of MTR pouches!

Five days later when we returned to NYC, all those pouches were unopened!

Dad had found something he enjoyed at every meal!

Sandals' biggest customer segment is middle America white folks so their food, even from other cuisines, is designed for the average Midwestern palate.

So, umm.... My dad who groaned while taking us out for pizza or burgers or continental or suchlike... Had totally enjoyed himself eating... White people food? 🤔

That was a twist I did not see coming!

And I hoped to explore that further with our visits together.

They visited again in 2017. That time, I had a lot of free time so I cooked up a storm at home most days (like now too hehe). My only rule for my parents with visiting, is that they aren't allowed to cook. Only make "farmaish" and I shall provide. And I did.

We did eat out a little. But they like my cooking so not too many meals were in restaurants. That was 2017.

Then followed a couple of years of family emergencies and then covid and then sister having their first grandkid and all sorts of whirlwind stuff.

Food was secondary.

This trip is their first vacation of any sort, first free week at a stretch, since 2017.

This time we have #OurWawar. Which means being on the road a lot. Which means eating out a lot.

And dad is absolutely fine with random rural NY food. Especially pizza.

Dad loves pizza!

So this time I tried to approach it like an ethnographer and asked him questions like he was a research subject.

Starting with,

"Dad, what the actual f? You hated and derided pizza so much when we were kids, whined so much taking us there and taking us back and now this? 😂"

His answer - "I still don't like pizza in India. Too many toppings! Too busy! I don't like my food busy. I like my food with a few simple ingredients of good quality. Your New York cheese slice is just cheese and tomato sauce. Great quality! I like that!"

I was like...huh! Come to think of it, he loves NYC bagels and cream cheese. He loves cheese in the US so much. Almost any cheese! Growing up I saw he hated cheese (all we got was Amul).

But here and now he can't get enough.

I thought retirement broadened his tastes.

But as he talked more about that he likes and doesn't like, I was like, holy crap. It's not like he hated pizza!

His standards are so high that it took New York and New Haven pizzas to meet them!

Same with cheese. Dad used to call it eating an eraser. But he loves burrata.

I mean listen, I have a hankering for Amul cheese toast as much as the next desi guy, but all due respect, I'm not expecting it in rotation at Murrays iykwim.

Even burgers here, he likes how they are "simple flavored, not 1760 spices".

He loves fish here too. Simple.

So yeah, I'm reeling with the epiphany that my dad isn't a ghar ka Khana boy.

My dad is a food snob!! 😂😂

What a twist!

Oh indeed! Italy would be perfect for our family reunion.

I hated lasagna in the US. First lasagna I tasted in Italy, I was like whoa! This I love!

https://twitter.com/LouDelBello/status/1537988162202374147?t=MWqCX7MGgkR_dSaU56zEiw&s=19