Thursday, October 11, 2007

God save your hands

I often think about this phrase. More often when I am in the kitchen. I learnt it in Istanbul, Turkey. My friend Ayfer had explained the Turkish tradition: "When someone cooks for you, you kiss their hands and say God save your hands." Basically you appreciate and honor his efforts to cook for you by doing this.

So I kissed Gulzaan's hands and repeated what I had just learnt! She had made veggie shorba for me..Turkish style.

But I think of the phrase not due to the tasty food that my friends cooked for me... going out of their way to feed me with something vegetarian for the many days I stayed with them...but because of their sensitivity. That one must thank the chef for the delicious food that one might be savoring.

For generally I can only associate "Bon Appétit" with good food habits. But that is essentially to say...enjoy your food...thanks to whom? the person who cooked...right?

I have often advised my friends to compliment the chef in kitchen for the great food on the dinner table. Precisely... this is for all the wives and mums who cook the delicious food day after day..for years! Until we ourselves take charge of the kitchen... God save your hands!

36 comments:

Reeta Skeeter said...

WoW! Lovely post...Never ever knew you echo my thoughts in such a fashion... hmmm... I often keep wondering HOW THE HELL can mothers cook 365 x 3 and that, with so much love thrown in the pot. Really... hats off to all of them... And especially to mine, who is sti1l bearing with me and my food nakhras!

KP said...

good post..i should appricitae my moms cooking...:)

Anonymous said...

yeps...
i learnt in germany too that it is rude to start eating without speaking "Guten Appetit"... at least one person in the group should say that...
and also it is even more rude to leave any food in the plate... that is considered to be an insult to the cook...
in norway, u cant leave the table after eating if even one person is still on the table...
so i guess different places, different manners... :)

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Anonymous said...

Hello Juhi,

Thanks for your visit to my blog. I enjoyed your story today and really enjoyed browsing your blog for the last few days.

Take care,

Mike

Vishesh said...

lol that is such a lovely thing...if i go to a home cooked party and i like the food,i compliment :)

Blog Boy said...

good...
I always do that when I am invited to someone's place for dinner or lunch...
Miss my home food from a year and a half.... :-(...
There is nothing in the world like home made food.....

Dawn said...

Thanks for visiting my blog!
BTW amazing post....even I have heard abt the Turkish saying and indeed it brings out how thoughtful they are about everything
Keep writing
Cheers

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

thats a lovely sentiment expressed so beautifully....I may not have kissed my mom's hands for her cooking but i sure have licked my fingers :)

thanks for visiting my blog....i am here now to peek into yours :)

Layon said...

I am a great cook....planning to prepare food this time for a group of beautiful ladies ;)

Nice post btw.

photowannabe said...

What a lovely thought and you explained it so well. We should have a heart of appreciation and say thank you more often than we do.
Thank you for visiting my blog and your kind comments. Please come again.

Occasional Brilliance said...

its amazing hw u nvr miss d water until its gone... my mum's banana puddings used 2 b d bane of my existance... n nw tat she's gone, i miss it d most... bt u knw wt? i found a restaurant hr, near my collg tat sells banana puddings... they r a no whr near her's... bt it brings a smile 2 my face... god did save her hands...

Occasional Brilliance said...

p.s - lovely blog...

venuss66 said...

Hi, you have a nice blog. I love my mom's cooking. Thank you for your visit. Take care.

The Furobiker said...

god save thy hands :)

Lakshmi said...

Thats a nice tradition ..I must say this to all those who cook for me. I say you are lucky to have friends who cook veg fdood, in my recent trip to europe we starved without veg food for days

Shalini Gowrisankar said...

Nice post.. I do say my mom and grandmom .. I'm sure acknowledging their work will surely make them feel wonderful as well :)

Thanks for dropping by my blog.Stay in touch.. You have a wonderful blog :)

Unknown said...

Shoot.. Should've written this two years ago... I now miss the number of hands I could've kissed.. with a valid reason to back me up.. damn!!

Erm.. only kissing the hand kya? What if the chef is uber good??

Mumma's musings said...

I have started appreciating my mom's cooking more than ever now.. All thanks to this article.

neers said...

heyy :)

Thanks for dropping by my blog. Lovely blog u have here...i'll come back to read...oh and beautiful pics :)

Andrea said...

Good post.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

NorthBayPhoto said...

Great post. Very interesting expression!

Thanks for visiting my NorthBayPhoto blog.

Unknown said...

Nice post.Before reading this, i never ever felt it was so imp to acknowledge...but it really is.Thanks for the inspiration.
And its a nice blog u have here.Blogrolled u

Unknown said...

Hey Juhi ..Thank you for visiting...and u have a very nice blog here:-)...I also like th shubh aarambh of Picture It ..beautiful images:-)

Jessica said...

I love that. Beautiful. (And as a fellow vegetarian I understand how nice it is when people respect our way when a guest in their home!)

khukii said...

Indeed a nice post once more...added ur blog to d elite blogroll on my blog..have a nice tym blogging..byee!

radiohead said...

exactly !!
bein a hosteler fr quite a while now .. I miss mom's food :(

Anonymous said...

what a heart warming post!!
yea my mom used to say that no one appreciate her house keeping job.
we say "itadakimasu" before each meals in japan.
basically it means "i will receive", but express gratitude :)

Anonymous said...

Very nice. Ellernize sağlik, yes, I learned it too in Istanbul when we lived there. And I never knew until recently, when I was at Orhan Pamuk's book signing, that it is also said to a writer. Duh! Health to your hands!

Thanks for coming to Flying and for your nice comments.

Anonymous said...

lovely reading this post...nice one!

Aarohi said...

Hi Juhi...

Have been reading your blog ever since!
All your posts are super refreshing and this one is amazing as usual...The pictures are beautiful...extremely..

Keep

Irreversibly Screwed said...

nice blog...

thats a nice tradition...
it does feel awesome to be appreciated for taking the pains to cook for someone.. i've cooked little tid-bits a couple of times and its totally worth it to see people enjoying something u made..
thanks for dropping by.. tc

Aarohi said...

Keep it up...and i will keep coming back...Cheers

hpy said...

When we compliment people on their work they will do it even better in the future, when we tell them that they don't work well they can be hurted as they have done their best, and the next time they won't do it anymore because "nobody cares".
You have two nice blogs, both for their pictures and the words in them.

Unknown said...

So how does one say it in Turkish ???
And hey, did you travel to Istanbul???

Cris said...

This is lovely... first time here, since I also have a food blog, I think this is a good start! Thanks for visiting! Can't live without coffee either!