A private space for both
What you say is not shared with family or friends.
"My mother makes it differently"
The dal is thinner than his mother's. The rotis are not as soft. She never used that masala. It is said mildly, sometimes fondly, at nearly every meal. You have cooked for this family for years and still feel like an apprentice in your own kitchen. In Leicester's Gujarati and Punjabi homes, where food carries so much feeling, this small remark does large damage.

A private space for both
What you say is not shared with family or friends.
Calm and balanced
Disagreements are looked at without taking sides.
Phone or video
Works when spouses live apart for work.
Not a replacement for help
Counselling or legal advice may also be needed.
Think of a wife who prepares undhiyu for Uttarayan, a full day's work. Her husband tastes it and says, kindly, that his mother adds more garlic. She puts down the spoon. He has no idea he has said anything wrong; to him it was conversation.
For many men, their mother's food is the taste of home and safety, and mentioning it is nostalgia. For the wife, the comparison says that her effort will always come second. It is rarely about garlic. It is about whether what she does is seen and valued for itself.
A consultation helps him hear how the remark lands and helps her say what she would like instead. If a Kundli reading interests you, it can be added. Appreciation at the table is a small thing that shapes a home.
He may mean the first; she hears the second. Both need saying aloud.
Appreciation first and often; suggestions rarely and only when invited.
A household develops its own tastes. They need not copy the previous generation's.
How often a comparison was made and how often thanks were given. The main service page describes how sessions are run.
How the consultation worksAgree that it stops entirely. If he misses a dish, he can ask for it by name.
He should gently discourage it, in the moment.
Making dinner once a week changes how a person talks about food.
She tells him once, without anger: "When you mention your mother's cooking, I feel mine is not good enough. I would like you to stop." He agrees without explaining what he meant. That is the whole first step.
Then some new habits. He thanks her for the meal each day and names what he enjoyed. If he longs for a particular dish from his childhood, he asks his mother for the recipe and cooks it himself, or they make it together. He takes over the kitchen one evening a week. She, for her part, lets small remarks from his mother pass, knowing he is on her side.
The session is online and can be joined from your home in Leicester when the house is quiet. Both of you say what mealtimes are like for you. Birth details are needed only if a reading is chosen.
No. Repeated often, it tells you your work falls short. It is fair to ask for it to end.
Because it arrives as a comparison at the moment your wife has made an effort. Praise her dish first.
Stay polite, and ask your husband to speak up for you at the table.
Daily small hurts build into distance. Sorting them early is worthwhile.