Growing Up as a child, there was no religion in my life. It took a long time for me to attach a sensible meaning to this word so I could accept it as a reality of life.
There were rituals which were half-heartedly followed at times and we had visited a temple or two and my mother had read us the Bhagwat Geeta and everytime we filled up a form that asked religion, we were reminded that we were Hindus and our nationality was Indian. We inherited this categorization and with it came a hefty number of obligations in the form of diet rules, diet restrictions, social boundries. I guess we survived without religion mostly because there were enough restrictions and disciplinary facets in life (particularly for a school going child) that people around me did not feel the need to explain the existence of a God or recognize the spiritual side of our being. Our family and freinds and acquaintances circle was full of people who at times glorified some god-headed figure or another but it was easy to not take them seriously because religious norms and rituals overshadowed the spirituality in those norms. And also because my mother was a part atheist and a reluctant spiritual, it was easy being me, confused enough to stay away and curious enough to return to it. And I really don't regret my situation. So far, walking through on my own path, the best and most fitting definition I found for god and religion (till date), came from the yoga philosophy and is explained with the help of the Panchmahabhutas. Even the Sankhya Philosophy has some interesting things to say.
School, the place where I spent the best parts of my childhood days was all about Competition and Sales and due to the multilingual and multireligious community of students, religion was not discussed openly, English was the official language of use while talking in regional languages was discouraged and ofcourse we were taught the biggest lie that 'Hindi' is the National Language of our Country and that Hindi is one of the most difficult to master and that Sanskrit is a dead language.
Education (pvt education here and probably anywhere) is a big business with very monopolistic tendencies and we learnt this fact pretty early on in life. As middle class children we were sold medals and certification and grades in return for information we had to rote to please parents and teachers. Learning and Studying were terms loosely used in place of all activities that involved rote-ing of information filled up in black and white textbooks. Books can be deceiving, one tends to imagine them to be source of knowledge whereas they are merely storehouses for information, it is the mind that makes the information useful or useless. Thinking was not really encouraged (atleast upto a certain year it was even discouraged), so I never managed to think much about the causes and effects in my life during those years and my childhood was one of the most mechanical periods of my life. That is what it seems like when I look back at myself and the students around me absorbing all the information right or wrong like a sponge.
My teachers often complained that I tended to remain aloof and though I paid a lot of attention in class, it did not reflect in my grades, my own mother who was a teacher before she got married, never expected great grades where the languages and sciences were concerned, so long as I passed with acceptable grades; though the sales woman in her did complain about the comment that always appeared in my reportcard every year 'Tends to remain aloof'. Luckily for me, I never managed to go out of my way to please my teachers. Who could blame me because the only expectation I got from everyone is that the certification which schools provided was important for 'becoming' something in life, 'doing' something was not as important as 'becoming'. Fancy this - the standard question to ask a child even today is 'What do you want to become in life when you grow up?'. If our schools and societies have only managed to produce a generation of an 'Unhappy workforce who fears and dodges work while envying fellows', its because there was too much emphasis on becoming something in particular rather than doing something specific and more so because society decided in advance what children should become as they grow.
I truly understand now why Ayurveda considers Childhood as the Kapha period or the Water period of life, where we are expected to flow through absorbing all the information we can to be used later in life during the Pitta period of our life. It's a beautiful thought but highly misunderstood and I have no idea about its origin at this point in time, so will refrain from judging it as right or wrong. The answers lie in knowing true history.
Just in case you are wondering what this has to do with food, read on just a little bit more.
When I think back of those years, I am not unhappy it's over. But that doesn't mean I have no fond memories of school. At 10:30 everyday, it was recess time and we would all eat. And food is a great way to connect to people.
My mom would often pack up something in a lunchbox but I had little interest in food. The only time the lunchbox became very interesting was when I had someone who I could share it with. A very lovely girl who became my best friend, loved the sandwiches my mom prepared, so they became my favorite too. Her mom would often give her a coin which she could use to buy something from the school canteen and she used it on juices so we shared half a sandwich and half a glass of juice each, everyday. I was infamous in my house because I liked sandwiches and junk foods so much and it was probably because it was what helped me connect to my friend.
They say you are what you eat and the best way to understand people is by sharing a meal with them and eating what they like. And there is no such thing as unhealthy food, food taken at the right time (when hungry) in right quantities is always nourishing. Nothing vitiates the doshic balance of the body more than emotional eating and overeating or misunderstanding your cravings.
So, here is one of the simplest foods I loved so much as a child because it gave me an identity and belonging and besides that there is something very satisfying about the simple convinience provided by a few ingredients stuffed between two slices of bread.
Here's what you need:
White Bread or Brown Bread (they both work fine)
Cream Cheese or Slice cheese.
Cucumber (thinly sliced)
Pinch of black salt
Pinch of:
Crackled or powdered black pepper
Crackled or powdered longum pepper
Sesame seeds
Ghee
And here's one more if you need something sweet and sour instead:
White Bread or Brown Bread (they both work fine but white is better unless u like it a bit crunchy)
Plums
Water
Pinch of powdered star aniseed
Ghee
For the first one just add everything between two slices of white (or brown) bread that have been toasted on a pan with some ghee. Enjoy!
For the second, boil the plums in water till they have softened.
Then mash them and boil more over a very low flame till reduced to a jam like consistency, add just a pinch of the spices (a little bit goes a long way). Spread it between two slices of white (or brown) bread that have been toasted with some ghee. Enjoy! (Skip the spice if you in a mood for something only sweet)
Why I do what I do:
There first one is actually my mom's recipe with fewer modifications and is just too simple to actually deserve details but I still find it worth explaining why it always tastes so great and can't be unhealthy. Its a perfect lunch for those summer days when you just dont feel hungry but need something to munch on at lunch time. For one it's such a balanced little thing. The lightness of bread is balanced by the heaviness of cheese, the cold qualities of which is inturn balanced by the heat of the pepper, dryness is balanced by the ghee. And it contains atleast 5 of the 6 ayurvedic tastes (Salty - Cheese, Pungent - Peppers, Sweet, Bitter and Astringent - Cucumber. Bread is also considered a sweet food and I sometimes replace the cheese with greek yogurt and pickled olives to make it sour or another better way to add the sour taste is by having it with a glass of orange juice. And many a times, I add a tsp of sesame seeds on the cucumber. Turns out, sesame seeds are an excellent ingredient to pacify Vata Dosha.
Incase you are wondering why ghee and no butter, I'd say always use ghee rather than butter with cheese because cheese is heavy and hard to digest, it is already mucous forming and Kapha inducing. Ghee is also better than butter because the milk solids have been removed and it is also considered more Satvik as against cheese and butter which are more tamasic.
The second one is a discovery I came to like so much (though I don't have much of a sweet tooth) that I must mention it. Plums naturally contain pectin which helps make a nice jamlike spread. Now Ayurveda does not recommend eating fruits with other things and I am guessing it's because of the over dominance of the sweet taste in fruits. But it does mention that cooked foods are better than raw. And the spices help balance the sweetness. Star Aniseed has a pungent flavour and it's gunas are also an exact opposite to that of plums which make them a perfect match. And if the above sandwich is too light, this one with its sweet and nourishing taste is a perfect companion.
*** In yogic thought like the Brihat Yoga Yajnavalykya Smriti (IIX.6) it is said that Ishvara is Vayu and the soul or Jiva is Agni. Yoga consists of expanding our individual fire to merge into the cosmic air. Vayu everywhere is the Ishvara or ruling principle, causing everything to move. So Ishwar or Vayu holds the pranas of all living beings in its energy network that links them all together in the web of life. The soul is a portion of Vayu that has entered into the body with the help of fire or Agni.
There were rituals which were half-heartedly followed at times and we had visited a temple or two and my mother had read us the Bhagwat Geeta and everytime we filled up a form that asked religion, we were reminded that we were Hindus and our nationality was Indian. We inherited this categorization and with it came a hefty number of obligations in the form of diet rules, diet restrictions, social boundries. I guess we survived without religion mostly because there were enough restrictions and disciplinary facets in life (particularly for a school going child) that people around me did not feel the need to explain the existence of a God or recognize the spiritual side of our being. Our family and freinds and acquaintances circle was full of people who at times glorified some god-headed figure or another but it was easy to not take them seriously because religious norms and rituals overshadowed the spirituality in those norms. And also because my mother was a part atheist and a reluctant spiritual, it was easy being me, confused enough to stay away and curious enough to return to it. And I really don't regret my situation. So far, walking through on my own path, the best and most fitting definition I found for god and religion (till date), came from the yoga philosophy and is explained with the help of the Panchmahabhutas. Even the Sankhya Philosophy has some interesting things to say.
School, the place where I spent the best parts of my childhood days was all about Competition and Sales and due to the multilingual and multireligious community of students, religion was not discussed openly, English was the official language of use while talking in regional languages was discouraged and ofcourse we were taught the biggest lie that 'Hindi' is the National Language of our Country and that Hindi is one of the most difficult to master and that Sanskrit is a dead language.
Education (pvt education here and probably anywhere) is a big business with very monopolistic tendencies and we learnt this fact pretty early on in life. As middle class children we were sold medals and certification and grades in return for information we had to rote to please parents and teachers. Learning and Studying were terms loosely used in place of all activities that involved rote-ing of information filled up in black and white textbooks. Books can be deceiving, one tends to imagine them to be source of knowledge whereas they are merely storehouses for information, it is the mind that makes the information useful or useless. Thinking was not really encouraged (atleast upto a certain year it was even discouraged), so I never managed to think much about the causes and effects in my life during those years and my childhood was one of the most mechanical periods of my life. That is what it seems like when I look back at myself and the students around me absorbing all the information right or wrong like a sponge.
My teachers often complained that I tended to remain aloof and though I paid a lot of attention in class, it did not reflect in my grades, my own mother who was a teacher before she got married, never expected great grades where the languages and sciences were concerned, so long as I passed with acceptable grades; though the sales woman in her did complain about the comment that always appeared in my reportcard every year 'Tends to remain aloof'. Luckily for me, I never managed to go out of my way to please my teachers. Who could blame me because the only expectation I got from everyone is that the certification which schools provided was important for 'becoming' something in life, 'doing' something was not as important as 'becoming'. Fancy this - the standard question to ask a child even today is 'What do you want to become in life when you grow up?'. If our schools and societies have only managed to produce a generation of an 'Unhappy workforce who fears and dodges work while envying fellows', its because there was too much emphasis on becoming something in particular rather than doing something specific and more so because society decided in advance what children should become as they grow.
I truly understand now why Ayurveda considers Childhood as the Kapha period or the Water period of life, where we are expected to flow through absorbing all the information we can to be used later in life during the Pitta period of our life. It's a beautiful thought but highly misunderstood and I have no idea about its origin at this point in time, so will refrain from judging it as right or wrong. The answers lie in knowing true history.
Just in case you are wondering what this has to do with food, read on just a little bit more.
When I think back of those years, I am not unhappy it's over. But that doesn't mean I have no fond memories of school. At 10:30 everyday, it was recess time and we would all eat. And food is a great way to connect to people.
My mom would often pack up something in a lunchbox but I had little interest in food. The only time the lunchbox became very interesting was when I had someone who I could share it with. A very lovely girl who became my best friend, loved the sandwiches my mom prepared, so they became my favorite too. Her mom would often give her a coin which she could use to buy something from the school canteen and she used it on juices so we shared half a sandwich and half a glass of juice each, everyday. I was infamous in my house because I liked sandwiches and junk foods so much and it was probably because it was what helped me connect to my friend.
They say you are what you eat and the best way to understand people is by sharing a meal with them and eating what they like. And there is no such thing as unhealthy food, food taken at the right time (when hungry) in right quantities is always nourishing. Nothing vitiates the doshic balance of the body more than emotional eating and overeating or misunderstanding your cravings.
So, here is one of the simplest foods I loved so much as a child because it gave me an identity and belonging and besides that there is something very satisfying about the simple convinience provided by a few ingredients stuffed between two slices of bread.
Here's what you need:
White Bread or Brown Bread (they both work fine)
Cream Cheese or Slice cheese.
Cucumber (thinly sliced)
Pinch of black salt
Pinch of:
Crackled or powdered black pepper
Crackled or powdered longum pepper
Sesame seeds
Ghee
And here's one more if you need something sweet and sour instead:
White Bread or Brown Bread (they both work fine but white is better unless u like it a bit crunchy)
Plums
Water
Pinch of powdered star aniseed
Ghee
And here's what you do:
For the first one just add everything between two slices of white (or brown) bread that have been toasted on a pan with some ghee. Enjoy!
For the second, boil the plums in water till they have softened.
Then mash them and boil more over a very low flame till reduced to a jam like consistency, add just a pinch of the spices (a little bit goes a long way). Spread it between two slices of white (or brown) bread that have been toasted with some ghee. Enjoy! (Skip the spice if you in a mood for something only sweet)
Why I do what I do:
There first one is actually my mom's recipe with fewer modifications and is just too simple to actually deserve details but I still find it worth explaining why it always tastes so great and can't be unhealthy. Its a perfect lunch for those summer days when you just dont feel hungry but need something to munch on at lunch time. For one it's such a balanced little thing. The lightness of bread is balanced by the heaviness of cheese, the cold qualities of which is inturn balanced by the heat of the pepper, dryness is balanced by the ghee. And it contains atleast 5 of the 6 ayurvedic tastes (Salty - Cheese, Pungent - Peppers, Sweet, Bitter and Astringent - Cucumber. Bread is also considered a sweet food and I sometimes replace the cheese with greek yogurt and pickled olives to make it sour or another better way to add the sour taste is by having it with a glass of orange juice. And many a times, I add a tsp of sesame seeds on the cucumber. Turns out, sesame seeds are an excellent ingredient to pacify Vata Dosha.
Incase you are wondering why ghee and no butter, I'd say always use ghee rather than butter with cheese because cheese is heavy and hard to digest, it is already mucous forming and Kapha inducing. Ghee is also better than butter because the milk solids have been removed and it is also considered more Satvik as against cheese and butter which are more tamasic.
The second one is a discovery I came to like so much (though I don't have much of a sweet tooth) that I must mention it. Plums naturally contain pectin which helps make a nice jamlike spread. Now Ayurveda does not recommend eating fruits with other things and I am guessing it's because of the over dominance of the sweet taste in fruits. But it does mention that cooked foods are better than raw. And the spices help balance the sweetness. Star Aniseed has a pungent flavour and it's gunas are also an exact opposite to that of plums which make them a perfect match. And if the above sandwich is too light, this one with its sweet and nourishing taste is a perfect companion.
*** In yogic thought like the Brihat Yoga Yajnavalykya Smriti (IIX.6) it is said that Ishvara is Vayu and the soul or Jiva is Agni. Yoga consists of expanding our individual fire to merge into the cosmic air. Vayu everywhere is the Ishvara or ruling principle, causing everything to move. So Ishwar or Vayu holds the pranas of all living beings in its energy network that links them all together in the web of life. The soul is a portion of Vayu that has entered into the body with the help of fire or Agni.
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