Food: Then and Now
Food is an integral part of any human being, why! pray! any living being for that matter. It is the basic necessity. Be it a happy birthday or a sad event of someone passing away, food must be consumed.
Praying to a deity, in many religions, people follow a custom called Fasting. They either consume one meal early in the morning and do not eat anything until the next sunrise or eat only two small meals and many more such followings. In fact, Islam followers, eat just one meal a day during their sacred month. In Hinduism, some eat only fruits on the first day of no moon day. The point being, everybody eats.
We have seen many references in movies and documentaries, based on real life experiences or instances, that people have resorted to cannibalism too. Eating the next available meat or greens on the food chain is the norm for survival.
Ok, ok. I know you all get it and let me scoot to the point here. When I was a kid, or let’s say our parents were kids, the kind of life style they had was way too different. Every ingredient was home grown or on a farming land rich with nutrients, minerals and more. Their routine was brisk, keeping them agile and healthy. Simply put, their Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) of calories was more as opposed to their Body Mass Ratio (BMR)required calories. So their intake of calories matched anywhere between their BMR and TDEE. This kept them healthy.
People back then had a simple math for healthy food. Everything grown organically, is good. Cook these organically grown ingredients and eat them fresh. Anything packaged, a big no. Eating out was not an option. So eateries were way too less or not economical. Idli, dosa, dal, chawal, rajma, chola, puri, ragi mudde, etc., were everyday food. Women and men cooked variety of food at home for many a people with much happiness and love.

Grand parents got all the kids and elders together for a “nila saapaadu” (Moon light dinner). Food mixed in one huge bowl, all kids and elders sitting around the grand parents alike, moon light shining, “kai gukku” Was the best experience our parents had and made sure we had that experience too. Coming to think of it, high time I did that with my kid too!
Boy friends took their bae on candle light dinners with much passion and thought put into it. When hotels and eateries came into existence people preferred eating on banana leaves. Everything seemed healthy, organic and comfortable.
Fast forward to now. Swiggy, Zomato, Uber eats, and what not. Candle light dinners replaced with remote controlled mood lighting. Every time I wonder what can people even see in this kind of lighting, making the ambience a bit too dull an affair. Then a small inner voice says, “hullo, forgetting about moon light dinners, are we?”

True to it, a tap away we get food of our choice. Pizza, waffles, burgers, pasta, rolls, etc. Food has had to go through a paradigm shift from being a good, healthy supportive, main character to a funky, cheering, anorexic, eye candy of all occasion — including a basic house routine. Master chefs, food channels and more, people are churning their machine to lure more and more people towards them.
Quality, irrespective of the era and time, has been of utmost importance. Quality per-se means the aesthetic, taste, quantity, texture, and aroma/flavor. This remains same for many ages and continues to remain the same way. There have been many culinary experiments, which has brought the world to understand different tastes besides being health conscious food consumer.
From having a mandatory knowledge base handed down from generations to google data base search, food has remained food — edible and filling our tummies. From being aware of natural characteristics of any ingredients to reading nutrient facts at the back of a pack, food has been forgiving to us mankind. The day isn’t far, when food will become just one pill, the kind of food we eat now, will become extinct.
Science, medicine, agriculture, FMCG industries all go hand-in-hand. You would see that all independent industries are co-dependent in or more factors. They influence each other in continuing business with the consumers.
Does this mean, we should only use organic food / freshly gathered ingredients from farmer’s market?
“simply put, no. Planting trees makes a huge difference in the way humans function. Growing own food will help too. But that will not solve the issue with just a couple of attempts. It has to be a collective, continual effort. To reduce pollution and make basic ingredients chemical free / pollution free.”
Just the way water cannot flow back, we cannot retrace our steps. We can, however, make earth a better place for our future generations. Grow food chemical free and feed good healthy food for our future generations. Eat healthy, stay fit, live long and prosper. 🖖🤟