RupayHalwa

When you make something nice, or a lot of food, do you share it with neighbours or friends and family?

We do, usually if we make a lot, or a special dish. The usual recipients are my dad, my brother, my husband's bachelor friends, and sometimes to my local friends too.

Today it was Nihari, but other dishes we usually send around are:
Biryani,
Haleem,
Chicken Pie.
Fish Pie.

You guys share?

Milly

My mam used to always and I mean ALWAYS send 'special' dishes to the neighbours. The OAP's on the right used to complain about all the 'exotic spices' so me mam, bless her heart. used to make a separate less spicey dish for them. She never could take a hint!

As for the neighbours on the right, well, they had a pitbull, so my siblings and I would take turns in 'delivering' their food. We basically used to put the plate/bowl/dish on the doorstep, ring the bell and run like the wind.

When we had Pakistani neighbours they used to always send us kheer on Eid and we would send them halva poori.

When we would have big family parties we would share the food out with half the flipping street. My mam was very keen on keeping the neighbours happy seeing as we were the only brown people in the area.

RupayHalwa

Milly, your mum sounds like mine. In the street where we grew up, more than half the people would receive their Eid lunch, we should know bcos we never got to eat until we had done all the deliveries!

We also used to quake in our boots bcos the corner neighbour had a dog and we used o be scared of it, "you go, NO you go".

Most of the english folk absolutely loved the food, except for one old lady who continually got offended bcos she said she could perfectly afford to get her own food, but her sister loved it and kept asking for more.

Neighbours on the right are vegetarians, so we only give them fruit but not cooked food in case they aren't keen.

Neighbours on the left are eastern european, i haven't sent anything to them yet.

Indian lady on the other end of street used to send us a LOADED TRAY on diwali, home made gulab jamuns, pooris, fruit and some gujrati food stuff. Only found out later that some of it was that pooja food, they put in front of the bhagwan, and we r not allowed that... but it was delicious.

Princess1983

We only send food to family homes if we cook something really nice. On Eid we used to send food to our neighbours until we fell out. Now we get nothing on Eid :-( no Eid Mubarak no nothing. Quite sad really.

I usually send my uncle and aunt food as there my little fanclub/groupies :-)

RupayHalwa

^LOL @ your groupies.

Sara516

MashALlah very sweet of her...how rude those neighbors were!

Aw. kya huwa?

Um i dont talk to my neighbors.. I guess i should ?
but lately I would give my bhabhi and her kids food that i had made...the lil one loves spicy stuff. she said she liked it...ill take her word for it
A few times I gave my uncle stuff, like biryani or haleem...
But mostly I'd bring food over to school for a coworker or friends, and we'd eat.

No one comes over so its not like i have to worry abt having food ready.
I would love to

FairyTale

Yes back in home i.e. Pak its quite common. Specially when there is some ocassion.

But here in UAE, I personally do not do. Why? I dont know though i like sharing my food.

I once made chicken pulao, with shaami kababs and Raaita n salad and yes Kheer was there too. And thought to share them with someone. So I prepared the dishes and gave it to the next door neighbors, who were a philippino family and an indian family. The philippino lady said she had never tasted such tasty food ever in her life dont know if she was tellig me the truth but she made my day

RupayHalwa

Sara, talk to your neighbours, have u met them? Take a bowl of your butter chicken over to say hello. (Unless they b rough, of course).

Why don't ppl come over, are they scare of you?

RupayHalwa

Thats really nice of that lady, I think she probably meant it for real, no reason to lie, most people absolutely love home cooked pakistani food, much more than the indian restaurant food, very diff.

Sara516

i duno i guess it's not a riwaj here?

um. idk.

Princess1983

I'm famous you know...

As for what happend with neighbours-their kids trashed our garden and started fly-tipping opposite our house and when we approached them about it we got the whole "you ain't the police/God" speech. Shame really as we didn't want to fall out with them.

RupayHalwa

How mean of them, they don't deserve your food.

maroush

Do we send out food to our neighbours?

In a nutshell... no... cos then after tasting my (i say my, i mean mr maroush) exquisite creations, they will never leave us alone....

Do we send out food to our friends?

No, cos they don't live really close.. but i've done my fair share of taking..... i used to take food off them and pretend i cooked it in the early stages of my marriage....... but we hold regular dinner parties.... i prefer this (having them all under one roof) then going out on food delivery runs..... especialy in London traffic


TBH, like Sara said, it' not really the riwaj here in London too... maybe it's a similarilty in all big cities?? The "dog eat dog", "each for their own" mentaility.....

Milly

What you really mean to say is that Southerners are too mean to share.

Sharing is caring people!

RupayHalwa

^ Excuse me, I'm a southerner and I share!


Come on now milly, lets not resort to falsehoods that southerners are too mean to share.

maroush

No no, she may have a point RH... maybe i am too mean ....

So what shall i send to my neighbours then....?

RupayHalwa

Talking of sharing, a lot of pakistani mothers generation people send round pilau on occasions, I don't know why, but I sure do appreciate it.

RupayHalwa

What are your neighbours like, first?

Milly

I would love some lasagne please.

p.s, I am literally just round the corner! Promise.

maroush

RH - Uhm... right side are arabs who come here every six months... they're not here at the moment, so that's one less neighbour to impress...

Left side are an old retired white couple.... always on cruises...... i don't think they're home either...

Chutiy for me then ...