Spice Up Your Life

When my brother and I were little we’d come home from school and run as fast as we could to our rooms to close the doors so the smell of the spices from mom’s cooking wouldn’t be absorbed by our clothes. We didn’t want to go to school smelling like a spice market, but there was always a hint of the smell of Indian food on our belongings. I know if you are the child of an Indian immigrant you can definitely relate. Fast forward to now when my brother raids my mom’s pantry for things he doesn’t have and spices are my favorite part of cooking (except for eating of course). It wasn’t until recently that I truly understood how important and powerful they are. Like did you know mustard aids in digestion and turmeric fights inflammation? And now the entire world wants a piece of the spice action!

I think all of us at some point have ran away from who we are or have tried to hide our true selves from the world for fear of being judged. Only to come around to finding out it’s a part of our identity we can’t and shouldn’t hide. And if shared, others would love it too. I wish I could tell my younger self to not worry so much about my clothes smelling like food but to think about how lucky I was to have a fridge stocked with the most delicious, nutritious home cooked meals.