Culture Clash Wednesday #8 Taste Buds
Last week, I offered three more entries into my Ultimate Spice Giveaway by taking a survey (only a few more days to enter!). This survey helps me see what all of you have enjoyed on my blog and what you want to see more of. There was a HUGE consensus.... You all love culture clash Wednesdays!! I'm so glad you are all enjoying because it has been such a fun series!This week were talking about taste buds. I think many of you will be able to relate to this one.. Food is one of the biggest passions in our house. This could be because we have an almost Indian family or because it's full of boys. I've always heard the way to a boys heart is through his stomach and I can tell you it's the same for Indians! We're always experimenting and trying new dishes! However, a problem always comes up... Can you guess what it is?? My husband and I can never agree if it's too spicy or too bland! Usually, I will love a dish and he says it's a little bland and needs more heat. On the other hand, he will have a dish and love it. All while I'm sweating bullets because it's so freaking spicy! Now, our kids are joining in on the fight. Liam thinks pepper is too spicy and Levi can handle his spicy food. This is probably why my husband loves visiting his family. It's typically a weekend full of spicy Indian food. My first few years in the family, I would get teased because I'd always have a glass of milk with dinner! I'd get the biggest glass possible because I knew how ridiculously spicy everything was going to be! It's been six years now and I never pour a glass of milk with dinner. Is this because I'm almost Indian and can handle my Indian food or is it because my pride kicked in and I won't ever let them know how badly my mouth is on fire? The world will never know... For the most part, we all love spicy food. It's just the level of heat we don't agree on. We've learned a few tricks over the years to make sure we're all in love with dinner. We've all trained our taste buds to handle some heat. We serve dinner and all sit down at the dinner table. If you look at our table, we will always have multiple kinds of hot sauce. We have hot sauce for every type of food we make too! We have hot pickled vegetables for Indian food, Cholula for Mexican food, and Sriracha for Asian food. This way we can all add the right amount of spice and I don't die from it!
Do you experience this in your house? Are you the one that likes heat?
Can You Eat Spicy Food While Nursing?
Oh this baby. He is always so full of smiles. My cousins even go as far as to say he is only ever smiling or crying! He only cries when he's hungry, so imagine a full day of the happiest baby alive. One question that comes up every time I have a new baby is how I eat while nursing. A lot of people stop eating practically everything while nursing, in fear of what it could do to their babies little bodies. I have never been one of them. I drink a cup of coffee every morning, eat spicy Indian food, and my babies have never been the wiser. WHAT! She eats spicy food while nursing!?Yep. You heard me right. Now, before I continue, kids with allergies are obviously a different case. My kids have never struggled with food allergies, so this works for us. There have been a few times when my children struggle a bit with me eating spicy food. If it's a significant amount, I will cut back a bit and slowly add more into my diet every week. Allow their bodies to adjust. Why go through all the work? You are developing your child's palate while you're nursing. Indian food is a staple in my family. That means my two and three year old eat spicy food on a daily basis. By helping their bodies adjust while nursing, it makes it a norm for them when we introduce solids. I continue this process with their baby food. I add curry powder, cumin, coriander, garam masala, etc. Here are a few baby food recipes I've used. Kids are eating spicy food in India every day, it's just as possible for my kids to. Joel loves telling our friends about some kids he met in India. They were eating chili peppers like candy! Do you think their moms stopped eating spicy curries while nursing? Nope!