I got an email from which had lovely pictures of tiger prawns and crab...and then when I wrote back, saying that I enjoyed the pictures much more than I would have enjoyed the dishes, he apologized, saying he didn't know I was a vegetarian.

Prem…I am what I call an “impure” vegetarian. Let me explain that.

I always hear people declaring with some kind of moral superiority in their tone that they are “PURE” vegetarians…they say it in capital letters like that with a smug, self-satisfied smirk! Apparently they don’t realize that there are as many varieties of vegetarianism as there are vegetarians on earth!

So I coined this term. It means, that I am willing to try anything (within reason–MY reason–of course, don’t bring me worms and fried crickets and cockroaches!) made of meat or chicken or egg, but so far, I have never liked any non-veg dish enough to change from being a vegetarian by choice (not by birth or “morals”.)

My daughter is married into a family which lives in Maine and LOVES seafood, and I have gone with them to a fantastic restaurant called Street and Company in Portland, Maine, where octopus and squid are on the menu…and it really has not bothered me at all, though I must say I don’t really like the taste of seafood. (Naturally, Murphy’s Law mandates that my daughter is violently allergic to seafood, especially Maine lobster.)

My husband loves fish, having been taught its taste by a Maharashtrian family when he lived in Mumbai. He…is a VERY impure TamBram…but then, so am I!

So Prem, no need to apologize at all…I might even try a prawn when my (one of these days in the fullness of time) visit to your place happens!

And what I loved also was the way Suchitra tries out new recipes and the pride with which you photograph them and post them! What a happy family you are, and what a pleasure it is to read your posts.