Because of media hype and woefully inadequate information, too many people nowadays are deathly afraid of their food, and what does fear of food do to the digestive system? I am sure that an unhappy or suspicious stomach, constricted and uneasy with worry, cannot digest properly. - Julia Child
This fear of food is a very common yet quite complex an emotion. Food is considered the sustainer of life, the harbinger of happiness and suffering as our physical bodies are built from the food we eat. So most people who do not acknowledge life beyond the physical or gross body are inclined to believe in 'we are what we eat' and feed their fears while starving their curiosity
In a modern society, no one is immune to such fears, we all experience it at some point in life.
Try to find the origin of the fears and ideas that kindle it and you will realize how words can be deceptive and how ideas lose its original meaning when translated.
Incase you are wondering about the lecture on fear of food when we should be talking of recipes, here's the story in brief about where this fear came from in my own mind and in the minds of people in my life. Remember we live in a funny world. And the country that we can call it our own is also full of lots of funny people. I am obviously talking about India. The diversity of our culture is one of the most beautiful things about being an Indian, but not all people have an appreciation for beauty so you will often find people wasting time over discussions about cultural superiority. And because food is an important part of any culture, people have ideas about certain foods being more superior to others. Now when these ideas are inherited by newer generations who have been taught not to question, the unknown foods become inferior. So, in a way, inadequate information leads to lack of knowledge which creates fear in the mind.
When I first started my life with your dad as his wife, I thought I had married a strange man with very funny ideas about food, I realized my own ideas about food were not the ideal. I was not being judgemental just confused. I secretly enjoyed laughing at my mother-in-law when she discussed about her food fears. Yes, there is a long list of foods they stay away from because of some inadequate information that has been drilled into their heads.. Scared of spices?? OK. Scared of fruits and vegetables?? Give me a break. Trust the doctor and medicines more than food.. Can you blame me?? (I still laugh at her by the way but not in a mean way, that is the most I can do).
Don't get me wrong, I admit I was never a know it all and still am not. I couldn't explain it but somehow knew there was something wrong with the world the way it was. My own grandmother had weird ideas about the superiority of certain foods over others and I did not always agree with my mom where my own eating habits were concerned. It would not be wrong to say that people overestimate the importance of food and that of certain foods in particular.
My own policies at that point in life were 'Eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside' and of course 'What doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger'.
I and your dad ate out a lot when you were not around. Not something I would encourage as a good practice, cooking is easier than you think. Your father has a tendency to over indulge in fast foods and what I consider unhealthy dead food but many a times he also enjoys balanced meals more than fast foods. I had a full-time job that kept me busy and gave me enough time to learn about and from him too, so, I cooked at home and enjoyed it too but am always open to trying other people's handiwork. I have my share of fears which I inherited due to being a product of the modern society but I think I can say that I have learnt to overcome it most if not all the times.
Then after 10 years of being married, I got pregnant and I took no special precaution except 3 square meals a day and lots of rest with a busy schedule- I read a lot. I had no idea what the hell I was going to do once you were born and had no time to worry about it. The people at the hospital had crazy ideas about disease and made me undergo something they call a GTT test to prove me a diabetic... crazy but that too passed and you were born normally as babies do without any complications. Then your Naani came along with the first wave of fears about food and diet for a lactating mother, your Daadi did not make life easier because her fears are probably more illogical. I knew these women were stressed, frustrated, and plain wrong when it comes to the role of food in life but had no way of telling it out flat. I remember your Maasi telling me about BLW. I did some reading and things made more sense. Yet I never worked too hard to uphold the ideology of BLW, just took parts of it that made sense. And if I have come this far it's because I followed you. It wasn't always smooth but I learned a lot from you about feeding and raising babies. I am happy to say that you were exclusively breastfed for the first 7 months and are still taking in enough human milk besides food. I want you to know that I chose to breastfeed you for as long as I could and you needed it because you came into this world through me and I was the only one who could for you. I don't expect anything in return just that should you ever become a mother someday tommorrow, do the same for your child without expecting anything in return. Our children come into this world through us, not for us. And we don't come into this world for ourselves.
I found a lot of the answers to my questions through studying Ayurveda, a 5000 year old science, the ideas of which were written down long ago when there was probably no country yet and ofcourse the diversity as we see today was probably non-existent then. As diversities developed, different understandings of the same scientific concepts developed and the gaps in knowledge were filled by fears and myths.
I talk more of Ayurveda than concepts of western medicine because I believe the former to be written out more simply and to me it sounds more sensible. A lot of the ideas about food as propagated by Western medicine that we understand today are formulated by capitalists and money making authorities, the Upanishads and Vedas on the other hand were written by seers on the path of self discovery long ago, some information may be outdated, some information may need to be viewed from a different point of view but overall, the accepted concepts and ideas are free from statistical manipulation.
Why am I telling you all this? Because some day, you are going to face the same material world and have your share of fears bogging you down, confusing you.
I hope you will be able to understand why people fear certain foods. Onions, Tomatoes, Eggplants, Garlic, Sugar, White Flour, Wheat, Rice, Milk, etc; before you decide to form opinions about them. Just remember they are all foods and foods (or Ahar as they call it in Sanskrit) in their natural state of being are meant to nourish the body.
I want you to remember to question before accepting what doesn’t make sense immediately. Just in case I am not around to help you find an answer to all your questions, this should help you get started towards finding your own answers.
I believe what I do because it conforms to my basic instincts, you are free to disagree or improvise upon the ideas I discuss in the following posts. There is no such thing as absolute truth.
Here's a picture of you, your fearless best at around 18 months, while you eat the leaves of the elephant bush (food of the wisest animal). It grows on the sidewalk areas near our house and you loved eating it. It's got a sourish taste and is often cooked with tomatoes in some parts of Africa. It's a lovely plant that also helps reduce carbon footprints from the atmosphere. It was always growing around here but I never knew it was edible until you came along and decided to taste it.
In a modern society, no one is immune to such fears, we all experience it at some point in life.
Try to find the origin of the fears and ideas that kindle it and you will realize how words can be deceptive and how ideas lose its original meaning when translated.
Incase you are wondering about the lecture on fear of food when we should be talking of recipes, here's the story in brief about where this fear came from in my own mind and in the minds of people in my life. Remember we live in a funny world. And the country that we can call it our own is also full of lots of funny people. I am obviously talking about India. The diversity of our culture is one of the most beautiful things about being an Indian, but not all people have an appreciation for beauty so you will often find people wasting time over discussions about cultural superiority. And because food is an important part of any culture, people have ideas about certain foods being more superior to others. Now when these ideas are inherited by newer generations who have been taught not to question, the unknown foods become inferior. So, in a way, inadequate information leads to lack of knowledge which creates fear in the mind.
When I first started my life with your dad as his wife, I thought I had married a strange man with very funny ideas about food, I realized my own ideas about food were not the ideal. I was not being judgemental just confused. I secretly enjoyed laughing at my mother-in-law when she discussed about her food fears. Yes, there is a long list of foods they stay away from because of some inadequate information that has been drilled into their heads.. Scared of spices?? OK. Scared of fruits and vegetables?? Give me a break. Trust the doctor and medicines more than food.. Can you blame me?? (I still laugh at her by the way but not in a mean way, that is the most I can do).
Don't get me wrong, I admit I was never a know it all and still am not. I couldn't explain it but somehow knew there was something wrong with the world the way it was. My own grandmother had weird ideas about the superiority of certain foods over others and I did not always agree with my mom where my own eating habits were concerned. It would not be wrong to say that people overestimate the importance of food and that of certain foods in particular.
My own policies at that point in life were 'Eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside' and of course 'What doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger'.
I and your dad ate out a lot when you were not around. Not something I would encourage as a good practice, cooking is easier than you think. Your father has a tendency to over indulge in fast foods and what I consider unhealthy dead food but many a times he also enjoys balanced meals more than fast foods. I had a full-time job that kept me busy and gave me enough time to learn about and from him too, so, I cooked at home and enjoyed it too but am always open to trying other people's handiwork. I have my share of fears which I inherited due to being a product of the modern society but I think I can say that I have learnt to overcome it most if not all the times.
Then after 10 years of being married, I got pregnant and I took no special precaution except 3 square meals a day and lots of rest with a busy schedule- I read a lot. I had no idea what the hell I was going to do once you were born and had no time to worry about it. The people at the hospital had crazy ideas about disease and made me undergo something they call a GTT test to prove me a diabetic... crazy but that too passed and you were born normally as babies do without any complications. Then your Naani came along with the first wave of fears about food and diet for a lactating mother, your Daadi did not make life easier because her fears are probably more illogical. I knew these women were stressed, frustrated, and plain wrong when it comes to the role of food in life but had no way of telling it out flat. I remember your Maasi telling me about BLW. I did some reading and things made more sense. Yet I never worked too hard to uphold the ideology of BLW, just took parts of it that made sense. And if I have come this far it's because I followed you. It wasn't always smooth but I learned a lot from you about feeding and raising babies. I am happy to say that you were exclusively breastfed for the first 7 months and are still taking in enough human milk besides food. I want you to know that I chose to breastfeed you for as long as I could and you needed it because you came into this world through me and I was the only one who could for you. I don't expect anything in return just that should you ever become a mother someday tommorrow, do the same for your child without expecting anything in return. Our children come into this world through us, not for us. And we don't come into this world for ourselves.
I found a lot of the answers to my questions through studying Ayurveda, a 5000 year old science, the ideas of which were written down long ago when there was probably no country yet and ofcourse the diversity as we see today was probably non-existent then. As diversities developed, different understandings of the same scientific concepts developed and the gaps in knowledge were filled by fears and myths.
I talk more of Ayurveda than concepts of western medicine because I believe the former to be written out more simply and to me it sounds more sensible. A lot of the ideas about food as propagated by Western medicine that we understand today are formulated by capitalists and money making authorities, the Upanishads and Vedas on the other hand were written by seers on the path of self discovery long ago, some information may be outdated, some information may need to be viewed from a different point of view but overall, the accepted concepts and ideas are free from statistical manipulation.
Why am I telling you all this? Because some day, you are going to face the same material world and have your share of fears bogging you down, confusing you.
I hope you will be able to understand why people fear certain foods. Onions, Tomatoes, Eggplants, Garlic, Sugar, White Flour, Wheat, Rice, Milk, etc; before you decide to form opinions about them. Just remember they are all foods and foods (or Ahar as they call it in Sanskrit) in their natural state of being are meant to nourish the body.
I want you to remember to question before accepting what doesn’t make sense immediately. Just in case I am not around to help you find an answer to all your questions, this should help you get started towards finding your own answers.
I believe what I do because it conforms to my basic instincts, you are free to disagree or improvise upon the ideas I discuss in the following posts. There is no such thing as absolute truth.
Here's a picture of you, your fearless best at around 18 months, while you eat the leaves of the elephant bush (food of the wisest animal). It grows on the sidewalk areas near our house and you loved eating it. It's got a sourish taste and is often cooked with tomatoes in some parts of Africa. It's a lovely plant that also helps reduce carbon footprints from the atmosphere. It was always growing around here but I never knew it was edible until you came along and decided to taste it.
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