Menopause and MasterChef

 

I am not a fan of cooking. And I make no bones about proclaiming it. However, to my surprise, of late I have become a sort of an expert in the smoked style of cooking and have been churning out a variety of dishes day after day. And no, I haven’t got a new barbecue or an oven. 

Since I couldn’t put my finger on what triggered this spree, I decided to pass on the credit to the back-to-back episodes of MasterChef Australia that I have been watching ever since the start of the pandemic in Star World. (I choose to ignore the annoying Koffee with Karan that always gets tagged along with the cookery show.) I now invariably end up naming my smoked items in some fancy chef terms that I picked up watching the cookery contest. Be it, eggplant with spicy lentils and herbs (sambar), mixed veggies in coconut and yoghurt sauce (avial), greens simmered in spices and coconut (arachuvita keerai) or even Indian wafers (appalam), the smoked list doesn’t end! 

I can hear my son grinding his teeth in anger and giving me a stern stare that screams: “When you karichify (burn) an item, you cannot call it smoked??” Well, small advantages of watching global food shows, I would say.

But the point is, he is right. I have been in this space when I invariably forget about what I have kept in the stove and end up sprinting to the kitchen only when I get the burning smell. And this happens even while I am right there in the kitchen too. No, I am not talking of those regular instances of making tea when, despite watching it like a hawk, the beverage boils over just when you veer away for a split second. My forgetfulness has been spilling over to other areas of work too.

It was not until I read a recent newspaper article that I could even give a name to my experiences: Brain fog. I knew about brain freeze that happens when you eat something frigid, but this phrase was quite new. Brain fog is a broad term used to describe symptoms that impair cognition and affect recent memory and reasoning. It is a term that has gained a lot of attention as a post-Covid impact.

Maybe the best thing that emerged out of the pandemic is the focus on mental health issues. With many celebrities talking about it openly, the stigma attached to mental health problems is starting to wither away. And even menopausal mental health is finally getting its due. So much so, that the theme of this year’s World Menopause Day, observed on October 18, was cognition and mood.

What made me sit up and read the news article again was the fact that it was a common symptom among women experiencing perimenopause and menopause; and that about 70% of women in the perimenopausal transition period, who experience this, are not even aware of what they are going through! No wonder! Given the typical Indian household, when a man complains of a headache, he has women pampering around and when the situation is reversed, the woman is simply advised not to fuss over her “monthly issues” and take it in her stride.

During the menopausal phase, women seem to face a lot of memory and cognition issues owing to changes in hormones. They may also experience frustration, lack of self-esteem, indecisiveness, anxiety and a general feeling of helplessness.  Ah! All that irrational mood swings make sense now.

Earlier, I used to think, in my own feminist way, that the religious practice of making women quarantine themselves during their menstrual days was discriminatory. But with my age and experience, I do feel that they may not have been wrong after all. In fact, I would say our folks were smart and wise in making the woman isolate herself, thus keeping her away from household work and giving her the mandated rest. I feel that the practice must have started as a period of recuperation which may have taken on an unsavoury form later. So, Ye men! Instead of branding her as moody, cranky or nagging, extend more love and support during this difficult time of hers. 

Now, what was I saying? Yes! Brain fog. In my case, I was down with Covid not once but twice and am also nearly reaching the halfway mark of my lifetime. And maybe, those smoked dishes and simmering temper are all a part of my foggy episodes. But definitely, I owe it to MasterChef Australia for helping my mundane dishes sound fancy.

Oh, no! That's a burnt, err, smoked smell! I completely forgot about my Arbi cooking in spicy coconut-yoghurt gravy. Guessed the dish? Chembu morkozhambu  ;)

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food. - George Bernard Shaw."

Also see: The Steamy story of Pressure Cookers