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Food Temptations

J eyed the hot food bar at a grocery store in my neighborhood longingly and asked if we could take some home for dinner. It was a colorful, varied and attractive assortment of food so I could see how she may have been tempted. We were both tired and more than a little hungry at the time. She could not wait to taste it once we got home and I arranged a small portions of everything we had bought on her dinner plate. After a few mouth fulls, J scrunched up her nose and said "I don't like it one bit. It's not what I thought it would taste like. If I eat any more of this, I'll throw up".

From extreme anticipation and love, it had gone to that must distaste and rejection within a few minutes. I could help but feel amused at the dramatic change of heart. She asked me to fix her a very simple Bengali staple for dinner which I did. This is the second time, J has fallen prey to food presented in a way that looks tempting and found out that appearance and taste can be quite some distance apart. The meal I cooked for her, did not look nearly as great as what we had brought home and did not call for any exceptional ingredients but  J relished it - it was her comfort food. After she went to bed, I wondered if this may have been a good time to talk to her about Shreya and Preya - a very fundamental tenet of the value system I would want her to have as she grows up.  

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