At the launch of Alka Pande’s book, author and Ayurveda expert Bhaswati Bhattacharya discussed how we are demonising food for fitness. Eram Agha took notes
The market is flooded with books on food, more so the reason for the publisher to be choosy of picking another one on the same topic. Since Alka Pande’s new work titled Mukhwaas – Indian Food Through Ages talks about the roots of Indian food, ayurveda, benefits of plants, discusses what and how we eat, traces the history and legends about food it comes as a fresh assortment of seeds that make mukhwaas — a colourful digestive aid.
Ambassador of France François Richier launched the book at the residence of France and everybody was ready for their dose of food for thought! Soon Pande took over to thank her father for instilling love for food in her. “My mother cooks like a dream but she hates to cook. My father loves to cook and eat, every vegetable vendor is his friend, and he knows where to pick his vegetables from. I was taught to appreciate food by him,” Pande said.
The enlightening talk between Pande and Ayurveda expert Bhaswati Bhattacharya on the current state of Indian cuisine and the process of rediscovery of indigenous food wisdom underway in India. “It is only in India where we celebrate food in so many ways — we talk about women, sensuality, spices, creator in the same breath. I didn’t want to mention paan for colouring our lips pink; instead I wanted to delve into the benefits of the leaf. Today modern research talks about the benefits of plant-based remedies and traditional Indian food,” said Pande. Say no to stored, frozen and cold food.
We have more troubling trends than we ever had before. People talk about veganism, size zero, dinner post 7 and many other developments that have come to define our discomfort with food. Somewhere in the age of growth, we have forgotten our history of appreciating small joys of life — food. Bhattacharya is skeptical to promote any of these current trends. She said, “Veganism, for first few months detoxifies the body but in the longer run it can have harmful effects on us and might retard our body movement, which is detailed in our ayurveda text. Size zero is neither desirable nor healthy; you miss on glow and having a good body to hold. I think today people don’t understand food.”
She endorsed ayurveda as the way of living, shunned consumption of frozen food and asked a very strange question — “How many grew up without a refrigerator at homeIJ” By this she wanted to highlight the importance of buying fresh vegetables and not using the stored and frozen ones.
The discussion tried to unravel the confusion that has to cloud the goodness of food.