As a seeker, I wanted my readers to be aware of the inputs to their system. These inputs may be food, friendships, relationships, other interactions, media, books, music, movies, TV etc.,
Maintain top quality in all your inputs to develop not just intelligence and knowledge but also more sensitivity and humaneness which I think are fundamental traits of a good spiritual person.
I want to write about the ‘FOOD’ as an input to my system. I am from India and hence I may be a bit biased in my food related writings since I come under the influence of food culture of India. But the idea is to take the learnings and interpret it in your own context.
The first thing I want to emphasise is the idea of the ‘STAPLE FOOD’. Wikipedia definition for the term staple food is –
‘A staple food, food staple, or simply staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for an individual or a population group.’
Let us consider the staple foods of India:
Wheat
Rice
Pulses (such as chana or Bengal Gram)
Lentils (dal)
Whole-wheat flour (aṭṭa)
Pearl millet (bājra)
Vegetables
Dairy products
Spices
8 out of 9 of the above staple food is plant based.
Let us consider the staple foods of a standard western economy:
In Western Europe the main staples in the average diet are animal products (33 percent), cereals (including wheat and corn) (26 percent), and roots and tubers (including potatoes and yams) (4 percent).
From the 1st link, I extract the below text:
Just 15 plant crops provide 90 percent of the world's food energy (exclusive of meat), with rice, maize and wheat comprising 2/3 of human food consumption. These three are the staples of about 80 percent of the world population, and rice feeds almost half of humanity.
Though a vegetarian, I am not an avid proponent who asks people to avoid meat eating. I think meat-eating is an experience that many people enjoy. But if you want to excel as a spiritual person, at least take some steps to reduce meat consumption.
To this effect, the definition of the STAPLE FOOD should be changed after due consultations with experts representing different cultures of the earth.
I, for one, believe that STAPLE FOODS are PLANT-BASED primary foods that are consumed in large quantities. Other foods like meat, and other animal produces are only supplementary to the primary staple foods.
I can go through the Indian cuisine a bit to explain this concept.
Primary Staple Food:
RICE: I am quoting from the 3rd reference.
Today we still have about 6,000 different varieties of Rice in India, but environmentalists estimate that we have lost tens of thousands of indigenous Rice varieties in the last 40 years. Nevertheless, the variety of Indian Rice varieties is the highest globally.
WHEAT: I am quoting from the 4th reference:
To cater the need of each agro-climatic condition and cultural conditions, around 294 varieties of wheat have been released and notified by the Central Sub-Committee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties for Agricultural Crops (CVRC). Similarly, around 154 wheat varieties released by the State Varietal Release Committee (SVRC) were notified under section 5 of Seeds Act, 1966. So far, 378 bread wheat varieties, 59 durum wheat and 7 dicoccum wheat beside 4 triticale varieties have been notified (Table 1.3).
So, we are essentially counting about 448 varieties of wheat.
Similarly, we have an astonishing number of varieties in all the staple foods that are plant based in India including protein rich pulses, lentils and vegetables!
Coupled with a deep immersion in spiritual realm as guided by their ancient masters/gurus, the food culture has evolved to be refined and sophisticated. And by the way, India has the highest number of vegetarians among its population.
I am quoting from the 5th reference:
The vast majority of Indian adults (81%) follow some restrictions on meat in their diet, including refraining from eating certain meats, not eating meat on certain days, or both. However, most Indians do not abstain from meat altogether – only 39% of Indian adults describe themselves as “vegetarian,” according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
The full course is laid out something like this – (Please refer to the 7th reference.)
Main Course in a typical lunch (Breakfast and dinner may contain a host of many other varieties called ‘tiffin varieties’ - please refer to links below for more information):
Rice based (boiled white rice, red rice, flavoured biryani rice etc.,) (Many more varieties) along with any currys/food-potions as given below in detail.
Request for additional portions of boiled rice as necessary when the lunch is in progress. Rice is mixed with the varies curries/food-potions for consumption.
Wheat based (roti, chapati, naan etc.,) (Many more varieties)
Request for additional portions of above breads when lunch is in progress. The breads are teared and dipped in curries for consumption.
Curry:
Vegetarian: Any pulses/lentils based, or vegetable based (see below)
Non-Vegetarian: Any meat based but primarily they are chicken, sheep, goat, fish and some sea foods. (Please refer to links about Indian Cuisine to know the types of meats consumed)
Beside the main dish and curries, Vegetables, eggs, desserts, other food-adjuncts are also present. Sometimes mango (1500 varieties!) and banana (15 – 20 commercial varieties and many more!) are also included in the full course meal.
I quote the below from a popular portal given in the 9th reference.
A typical South Indian lunch might include:
Rice: The staple of the meal, often served with ghee (clarified butter).
Sambar: A lentil-based stew with vegetables and tamarind.
Rasam: A tangy, spicy soup.
Poriyal: Stir-fried vegetables with spices.
Kootu: A thick stew made with vegetables and lentils.
In South Indian cuisine, a typical meal is designed to balance six distinct
flavors: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, astringent, and spicy. This balance is believed
to promote overall health and well-being. Here’s how these flavors are typically
realized in a South Indian lunch:
Sweet: This flavor is often represented by dishes like payasam (a sweet pudding made with rice or lentils, milk, and jaggery) or banana slices served at the end of the meal.
Salty: Saltiness is a fundamental flavor in most dishes, but it is particularly prominent in pickles and papad (crispy lentil wafers).
Bitter: Bitter flavors are usually introduced through vegetables like bitter gourd (karela) or dishes like neem flower rasam.
Sour: Sourness is a key component in dishes like sambar (a lentil-based vegetable stew with tamarind) and rasam (a tangy soup made with tamarind or tomatoes).
Astringent: This flavor is often found in legumes and lentils, such as in dal (lentil curry) or kootu (a vegetable and lentil stew).
Spicy: Spiciness is a hallmark of South Indian cuisine, with dishes like spicy chutneys, curries, and poriyal (stir-fried vegetables with spices).
*The sources given above are raw foods. we have to also consider the cooked foods that is coming out of these raw foods.
A typical Indian full course meal covers all the 6 types of tastes deriving from the concept that I mentioned earlier in one of my blogs – ‘Food as Medicine’.
The 6 basic flavours identified by Indian food cuisine are – Sweet, Sour, Salty, Pungent, Bitter, and Astringent. It is widely believed that a balanced intake of these 6 flavours daily will have a medicinal effect on the whole body.
All the regional variants of cuisines of India tries to present these 6 flavours in a full course meal or by daily intakes by properly deploying the food-aids like spices, onions, ginger, turmeric, asafoetida, garlic, shallots, other condiments, etc., and other composite ingredients like curry/masala powders.
May be, food-experts can take a deep look into the Indian Cuisine and understand the philosophies behind it and how it is mentioned in Ayurveda. Then steps should be taken to spread the various staple foods seen in India but not seen anywhere. Together with less meat consumption, a high quality food input can do wonders to your body and soul!
References:
Hari Om!