Chapter 19

Serving Judgement

A couple of months ago, I got a phone call from one of my former cooking class students.

“Aunty, will you be a judge at my children’s school for their Inter House Junior Masterchef competition?”.

They have that now?? I was pleasantly surprised. My first reaction was to say no because she called me aunty. But, since it was ‘junior’ Masterchef, I presumed her child must be between 10 and 14 years old (which means, as someone in her 30s, she just about made the cutoff to call me aunty😊). Also it was for my kids’ old school, so how could I say no!

My kids were very excited that I was going to be a judge in their alma mater. “Be nice, don’t snap at them, compliment all of them even if it’s not tasty, smile…”, the list of do’s and don’ts went on and on. I wonder if Gordon Ramsay’s kids also school him like this before he goes to judge the Junior Masterchef?

In their defense, they are right in schooling me because most of the time I can be quite cut and dry and I make no bones about it. But these were tiny 10-year-olds so obviously I was going to be patient and nice, I said to my brats.

As I walked into the school, I was reminded of the days when all us mothers used to huddle outside the gate waiting to be let in either for that monthly talk (scolding) with the principal, or a discussion about some picnic or fun and fair with the class teacher (where my kids had invariably volunteered to bring brownies or cookies because their mother was a robot).

No waiting outside today (ha!) but I felt pretty important being escorted into the hall and to my chair that said ‘Judge’ on it. Looking around at nervous parents, I recognized some of them as regulars at my restaurants, some as my students of my cooking classes. I empathized with them because I felt the same stress when my kids were that young, sitting along with other parents through inter house competitions with plenty of nervousness and trepidation. Competition is competition at the end of the day, especially if your kid’s mood is on the line.

When I saw the posters on the walls which said “Thought for Food”, I almost did a double take. They actually made posters with the name of my café?? That was impressive! All this trouble for meee?

It took me about ten seconds to realize that it said Thought for Food not Food for Thought.

Not everything is about you, Reshma.

As each team of four kids from each of the four houses came up and set up their ingredients on the tables, I realized this was not going to be the Marie-biscuit-with-chocolate-sauce scenario. This was definitely more elaborate than that. The table was flexing ingredients like Jowar Tortillas, Guacamole, Sour Cream, Salsa, Broccoli, Mushrooms, Basil, Pesto, Chocolate chips, Kiwi, Blueberries. There were four categories of challenges - guess the ingredient, follow the recipe, make a snack with superfoods, and create your own healthy dessert.

One child from each group was blindfolded and then asked to guess ten ingredients handed to them one at a time. The next challenge was to make a superfood snack. Then the DIY Dessert challenge. Then the millet challenge. These were ten-year-olds for heaven’s sake! How did they know so much?? I still struggle with the names of different millets and have to lean on Google Aunty every time.

It was impressive as heck to see these Tiny Tims assemble their jowar (or millet as they told me) wraps with avocado and salsa with so much enthusiasm and gusto!  I doubt my son knows even now what a superfood is (all he knows is that all the food his mother makes is super😊).

From the assembling to the plating to the garnishing, the kids owned it! Since it was the Year of Millets, I was told the school has been doing its best so the kids learn more about these superfoods and gut health.

My kids’ school snacks used to be Lays, Chocopie, khakra slathered with butter, cream cracker biscuits with cheese spread, coin pizzas, a lump of Maggi, sausages, chicken nuggets straight out of a packet! This menu was on loop week after week, till they saw some other child getting something even more unhealthy and then they wanted that. Phone calls to that mummy followed and another tiffin snack was born.

Gut health would have been an alien concept to my kids at that age. The only gut they knew was that they gut tired of listening to their mother nag them about eating healthy food.

What followed after that was an array of impressive wraps, tacos, burritos, salads, layered desserts, deconstructed desserts. These kids knew their food and then some!

Truth or Dare. Take a shot if you’ve ever eaten four snacks, four desserts and four wraps at 8.30 am? *takes shot*

I wolfed down all of the above while an audience of anxious parents and eager children stared at me. Judging all of these and then having to give less points to some and more to others felt cruel. All that enthusiasm, excitement and pure joy in their task and I have to tell them they were not as good as the other team? Why me?? Trying to lighten the mood, I joked with them that some of the dishes were so great that I would happily add them to my catering menu. Joke fell flat. They hated me.  

Eventually it does come down to ‘you win some you lose some’. I know we have to teach our kids that you don’t always get what you want and failure is part of life, but why do I get to be the villain in all this?

If you know, you know

Those disappointed faces were because of me! I recalled when my kids came home with sad faces after losing in house games or debates. As a parent all you can do is be there with some words of encouragement and some junk food that they love.

In times like these you need to abandon the veggies and bring out the big guns buns.

Hey if all it takes is a juicy burger and some fries to bring the smiles back, then it’s more than worth it. Who are you to judge?😊