Chetna Makan: Chetna's Indian Feasts

<p>This week, Gilly's at the home of award-winning recipe writer, author and YouTuber, one of Bake Off’s most celebrated winners and mother of 2, <a href="https://chetnamakan.co.uk" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chetna Makan</a> to talk about her new book, <a href="https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/chetna-makan/chetnas-indian-feasts/9780600637677/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chetna’s Indian Feasts</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><br><p>But in this first episode of a special series this summer, we’re talking about food through the prism of <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/matrescence" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">matrescence</a>,&nbsp;the raw ingredients which make up the heady mix of motherhood and provide the recipe for life. Like adolescence, matrescence shows us a picture of process, and with it an implicit understanding of what that means. Just as adolescents are always adults in training, so matrescents are mothers in training, and that never stops.</p><br><p>The word was coined by anthropologist Dana Raphael in 1973 to&nbsp;describe the experience of half the global population but which is barely known, barely discussed, barely acknowledged. On the contrary, we’re supposed to know it all the minute we give birth.&nbsp;&nbsp;It’s estimated that perinatal mental health problems alone cost the NHS and social services&nbsp;around £1.2 billion annually. Imagine the impact on families and wider society of way post natal mental health issues – the massive lows that come with the roller coaster of emotions of motherhood – at all ages and stages.</p><br><p>The aim of this Cooking the Books series is to introduce the word into the national conversation.&nbsp;&nbsp;Chetna is the first of four writers, mothers, <em>matrescents</em> who have much to say on the subject throughout the whole of August. For more information and where to get help, click <a href="https://matrescence.uk/?fbclid=IwAR0iMxG0CPJ1PMnJ8CGIBnDV-Q5E0dTs2l7LKlHUMHBVsXGKRtXSiHoKhak" rel="noop