India, a country of spices and flavors. A land where priorities lie on earning for food and through the food they earn. Varieties change, flavor changes every 20 kilometers but the basic Indian cuisine is the world’s famous ingredients roti (chapatis), sabzi (vegetables), dals (cereals), chawal (rice). Every state has its special cuisine to serve but it’s only healthy when you have a piece of proper knowledge about it. Let’s have a look.
The basic diet that the Indian people used to follow in the ancient era as dals, rice, and vegetables which was sufficient to maintain a healthy body. In the Vedas, there are mainly three categories of food mentioned-
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Rajsik:
The dishes of almost more than twenty varieties that were served to the kings which included roasted, fried, and lots of spicy foods and various sweets. And drinks that contained fats and calories.
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Tamasic:
The vegetarian and mainly non-vegetarian items that usually have lots of spices and salts and pepper. And is cooked as hot-stuffs that is not at all a healthy diet for a human body.
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Sattvic:
The fresh and simple diet which is the purest form of cuisine that maintains a healthy body and contains fruits and green vegetables. That too in large quantity and is prepared with least spices.
The food that is consumed is considered to be healthy when humans have the proper knowledge of the ingredients and what they are having and how they are having it. The food prepared in today’s generation is not an Indian food exactly which should have its root in this land but either borrowed from the western culture who follows the technique of fried, grilled, roasted, and baked dishes.
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The concept of adding too much of spices and the availability of half-cooked dished is not our tradition. It is the western pattern of consuming food as of storing it for days and refrigerating it for its next use. The concept of adding lots of fresh vegetables and fruits in the diet plan and the add on like curd and pickles are the healthy food chart that the Indians used to follow.
The number of fats, calories, and carbs that today Indians consume mostly drive from the grilled and fried procedure that they have learned from western society.
Let’s jump to the quotient of food that an average human can consume for a healthy diet:
Roti: calories – 85, fat- 0.5 grams, protein – 3 grams
Rice: calories – 112, fat – 1 gram, Protein- 2 grams
Dals: calories – 150, fat- 6 grams, Protein – 3 grams
Mixed vegetables: calories – 142, fat – 15 grams, Protein – 2.9 grams
Chicken: calories – 300, fat – 18 to 35 grams, protein – 27 grams.
Eggs – calories – 75, fat – 5 grams, protein – 7 grams.
As you can see that for a healthy diet the average food that we require to fulfill the need is the above category chart, but since the tradition is and culture have mixed up and western culture have emerged, the style and way of preparing the food has been changed leading to the unhealthy and non-nutritive cycle.
An increase in the number of (junk food) stalls in the Indian market makes the population at high risk consuming un-nutritious and infectious food items. The majority of the people in the working class who has a shortage of time and do not involve themselves in cooking hence, leading to consuming outside food (packed) or street food.
The reality is not hidden about the Indian culture that the kinds of stuff that the sellers use to make the street food are stored for days and a high rate of uncleanliness is the matter of concern as the ingredients are of mainly low quality and may be extended in terms of expiry dates.
Indian street market is known for an uneducated and un-privileged class for whom it is an easy way of earning and they do not care about hygiene and nutritional value. The only matters are the income and the family to take care of.
Taste is must in Indian food
The psychology of Indian people reflects a harsh reality about their consuming pattern that is the most fried and grilled a dish is and the more sweets and chilled it is, dishes are preferred the more, as of enriched which taste and quality. The only thing that matters is the taste.
People die for taste and this is the reason we can witness the food blogging and various food channels enhancing praising the street food and visiting various places around the world and promoting these kinds of foods. There is a difference between psychological satisfaction and hunger satisfaction.
Taste that fulfills the psychological need is not Indian culture and the procedure through which the food is processed is therefore not Indian too. The hunger satisfaction that is fulfilled through (sattvic Bojan) was the traditional way.
Some of the ingredients and spices that are taken from the western culture have changed the taste and liking for the original Indian food taste and the root is being lost as the generation proceeds further. Indian food is no more healthy and nutritive because people have forgotten the actual tradition of making it and the preference of taste has also been changed for years.
They are preferring spicy and fast foods that take less time to cook and less time to consume as well. From a kitchen to the street market everything is changed and hence, people are more dependent on unhealthy food in the real world.
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