My Family Cookbook

I have recently started work on a very interesting project. One that will take its sweet time coming into this world but once it does it will be a beautiful addition.

I live in Pakistan and a lot of our traditions and times with family revolve around food. I am sure that is the same in many cultures all over the world.

I have always wanted to capture the stories of my family, members present and long gone, through stories about them. I didn’t want to tell the stories just through words though. I wanted to weave in a favorite recipe with it.

A lot of my childhood memories are of the whole family gathered around food. Different aunts had different specialties and you knew what to ask for in which house. My grandmother brought us all together once a week to eat around her ‘dastarkhwan’. Those are some of the memories I cherish the most. I was not just about the food but the food was an integral part, of those times, of my memories and of my heritage.

During the 2020 quarantine I had a lot of time to reconnect with distant family members and I finally started to put this plan into action.

My family elders were/are big fans of cooking by intuition. This meant most of the recipes that were shared with me had no quantities and so I had to keep trying them till I got them right. But that in itself has been an adventure. One that is still underway. 

One day I hope I am able to finish this project or at least have it in a shareable form. I do believe this will be a living book that will grow with generations.

And that is how history is mostly preserved. Through stories, through recipes passed down and through pictures. All of these come together to bring to life times gone by.

So on my blog the “In the Kitchen” section will be about these recipes, these stories and my adventures while trying them out.