… We know this family , when ever they come over , they eat like never before … which is fine … but then the wife starts complaining to me that husband is border line Diabetic .. and the khana has so much cholestrol and blah blah etc ..
Now the thing is , from my end , when i know a diabetic or heart patient is coming over for dinner , I do make one or two dishes specific to their health needs .. but then there are other members of their family as well who are healthy right? and I cant make the entire menu sugar free or oil free ..
The person who is ill should themself realize how much they should eat and what they should pick from the menu … or am i really at fault and should totally remove the oil walay khana from the dining?
So say if a family is invited by you .. one of their members is diabetic … how do you prepare the menu? or do you just carry on making food the usual way and dont focus much on diabetic members dietary needs?
the guest should know how to eat according to their own needs, i think making one or two dishes appropriate for a diabetic is accomodating enough. i think it's very rude of the wife to try and make you feel bad....i'm thinkin she's just jealoud her hubz can't control himself around your food lol
But generally i am keen to know if anyone makes special dishes to accomodate one person , or woud you go about doing your normal cooking when preparing food for dawats?
On the contrary , I have seen desi unkil bragging to each other as to who has the highest cholesterol or who has high sugar. I am diabetic , I avoid sweet dishes at parties but people including desi doctors will start insisting that I take some.
One desi unkil who is diabetic will ask me how high my sugar is and If I say 100 he would say bus mairee toh 200 hay , phir bhee main parhaiz nahi karta, agar marna he hay toh kha k kion na marian , bhokay kion marain.
Translation for ABCD’s BBCD’s and CBCD’s : " You are such a wimp , my sugar is 200 and I still do not care about what I eat , if I have to die , why don’t I eat and die instead of dieing of unfulfilled cravings."
Spot on Mirch .. I have heard aunties and uncles saying that too … and totally feel sad by this approach … and clearly they have no idea how much hurt they are causing their families with this attitude…
What about desi unkils who want to smoke in your home ,right after dinner. I told one unkil to go out for smoking , it was Chicago and it was snowing at that time. He got mad and never came to my home after that incident.
desis with hypertension have this habit of picking on the namak in the food. that pisses me off the most. my mom goes out of her way to please each person, it's like...theyre the ones coming over...she doesn't need to stress over the people who just have a habit of complaining, even after you go outof your way to take care of them.
the funniest are those who will enjoy the whole meal and afterwards throw in a sly comment like:
"mirchein barey thein haye haye per khaaa leya hai"
"gheee freee maaiii thaaa" (or replace with namak)
Lifey … those are the other few comments I have heard a few times and god how I feel like putting more namak /ghee in their food … but I always hold myself back :hinna:
My mom is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too accommodating when it comes to food and preparation.
If she finds out someone doesn't eat salt or is a diabetic...she will prepare enough so they can have a decent menu to choose from.
In my opinion, one or two dishes are good enough but she doesn't listen to me...why go over board especially with complainers? They spoil the whole evening.
If the guest is really close, like our parents or siblings I make a healthier version of every dish.. if it’s friends one or two is enough .. yes I am a family-icst
If I know that the person I am inviting has special conditions, I would definitely try to accomodate them. Your right one or 2 dishes is sufficient for them, as typically a salad and yogurt sides are ok for diabetic/high cholesterol types. I also get diet soda as well for that night.
No one should be nitpicking you when you did try to accomodate them & indeed the person with health condition should be responsible about what he/she eats. I have had people ask ifor something else if they can’t eat something, which is fine cuz they are not rude about it. Like roti instead of rice or something.
Afro I do that too .. like I always keep diet coke aside .. and then when i am making dessert like kheer .. before adding sugar , I actually take some out for the diabetic guest and then add sugar to the rest … and and I always keep whole wheat roti’s along with naans and serve both hot and cold water , coz some feel uncomfy drinking very cold water …
But like you said , eventually its the guests responsiblity really , how much they choose to eat .. even if the host hasnt kept the special dietary needs in mind , I think its the guests call to eat wisely and in a controlled manner …
My mom is diabetic and has high blood pressure. When she is invited somewhere she eats what she thinks is appropriate. If it is someone we know they make something tailored to her health. LIke she doenst eat beef so they will make goat or chicken. If its someone we k now my mom will also say how much oil the food has etc :D
On the other hand, i have an uncle who is diabetic, he makes a point to not avoid sugar and he eats stuff dripping with oil. My aunt tries to stop him but deosnt make an effort to use less oil in cooking.
Moral of this long post:if someone wants to watch out for thier health they will find a way.
Sometimes it becomes a hassle to accommodate everyone especially in large gatherings…we once had a dawat and we knew a uncle had high blood pressure so we made some goat burgers for him aside of the beef burgers we had for everyone else…this called such a fiasco when one lady insisted that she doesn’t eat beef (just cause, not because of her health) and wanted some goat burgers (even though there was so much other food)…mom was so stressed out because we only made some for him…if you accomadate one person, everyone else will start to nitpick and want thier favorite dishes made and etc
Don’t even get me started on the ladies that will always think your food is too spicy..if the next time you tone it down just for them, its too bland… :hinna:
Guac , thats happened to me too … sometimes when I make less spicy food for certain individuals … suddenly ladies jump on it and start serving it to kids too !!
I simply dont know how to react someitmes .. if I could I would make everything in two chunks , one for special dietary needs and one regular .. but clearly no ones a superwoman , but are people understanding? no… not at all ..
Once I knew this person doesnt like onions … so I made some onion free Pizza for him , while there was mixed pizza’s for the rest of the family … and the next thing I know , everyone was reaching out for the non-onion pizza
The menu would have a rice dish and also rotis/naans. For the deserts part, there is always diabetic and non diabetic ones. This is not a big deal. We cant keep the menu of entirely diabetic stuff. Its up ti them to keep their off the stuff they are not meant to eat. lol.
… We know this family , when ever they come over , they eat like never before 
… which is fine … but then the wife starts complaining to me that husband is border line Diabetic .. and the khana has so much cholestrol and blah blah etc ..
…
I told one unkil to go out for smoking , it was Chicago and it was snowing at that time. 
He got mad and never came to my home after that incident. 
… but I always hold myself back :hinna: