The Culinary Wink: Either We Mend Or Die

Is it a wakeup call: To take our food, lives and planet seriously? Our lovely planet will not sustain the way we are indulging in our day-to-day activities specially to satisfy our stomach. The greed for our food choices is getting more and more vulnerable for the planet, especially the choice of food we are after.

Multinational corporations, industrial farming and vote-banks drive this mega-billion-dollar industry that peddles marketing psycho jingles to maim our minds, destroy our thinking, and turn us into puppets dancing at the whim of whatever fad, trend or diet that keeps industries afloat and stock markets on an upward rally. All this, while consumers are being tricked into buying that which in reality is poison for their bodies, their minds and souls, and the planet they inhabit.

I follow the academic curriculum and pedagogy of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). At the CIA, education isn’t just textbook tutelage, but how we live and how our actions today affect the planet’s well-being, our health outcomes, and the medical impact and imprint it will leave on our next generations. They have various forums which bring together industry leaders, chefs, culinarians and visionary provocateurs who can rattle minds and inspire disruptive thoughts and ideas, and in doing so, sow seeds of change that, in turn, become the menus of tomorrow.

So much of what we shared over two decades ago when no one wanted to hear about plant-forward cooking, sustainable practices or health and wellness has today become main-stream. Today my eyes glitter when I see salad offerings on burger-chain menus, and it doubles when tasty veggie burgers are offered and real cheese are used by the mom and pop shops. These healthier and cleaner options have found a niche, but they are not yet mainstream enough, and their price points are still too high.

Bad-calorie-dense, junk food – made with sugary sauces laced with preservatives, fake analogous cheeses, tasteless toppings, and way too much processed ingredients – is still the go and fad for the new Zen youngsters and Double Income and No Kids (DINKO). They are the ones ignorant of the horrific medical outcomes which unleash on people, neighbourhoods, communities, cities and countries.

A typical observation shows that in the Indian metros, tier one and two cities, less than 5% eat real and nutritive food made with fresh ingredients and some iota of sustainability attached to its manufacturing process. For the rest, eating is a daily exercise in poisoning the self and moving toward hospitalisation from diseases and disorders associated with poor food choices. The edible poison are the gourmet delight and delicacies by self-proclaimed Master Chefs across India.

The food mafias have found the hungry customer, where everyday Indian fare with deep nutritious roots has been turned into nasty grub devoid of flavours, packing poison and horrific amounts of calories. From street-side dishes to those offered in supposed “fine-dining” restaurants, one finds cringe worthy foods that seem fancy only because they have foreign names. The public is mostly oblivious to the bad rap these ingredients and recipes get in their origin countries.

With every “cheese-like-substance” filled dish, with every mayonnaise-inspired sauce, and with every tub of fake ice cream that we consume in India, we are adding to the ever-growing number of millions in our nation suffering from diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and metabolic syndrome. While we line up for miracles to happen in hospitals and temples, these food mafias without scruples and ethics are waiting happily in their own lines at banks to deposit assets and cash they’ve made by knowingly pushing dangerous foods into nations and communities that haven’t yet caught on to the poor health outcomes of consuming such food.

India was one of the richest geographies of the world when the British came and colonised it. Through oppressive rulings and the systemic breakdown of the Indian socio-economic fabric and by feeding the divide between people of different faiths, they distracted and broke the people, and created famine in India to feed their own famine-struck populace back home. We are now a rapidly growing economy. We have empirical studies that show that the westernised diet we follow has its own kill on our people. We should follow the nations which have protected themselves from this westernised culinary carnage and created roadblocks through governance and taxation.

India is the world’s largest democracy and has a choice to make today. We can wake up and smell the burgers and pizza, fake cheese & nachos, and be a part of the world’s worst epidemic of obesity and diabetes. Or we can keep adding cream and cheese, butter and meat into everything we eat and turn those ancient and mostly plant-forward recipes into poison that kills us from the inside out and that our three generations from now turns our populace into culinary zombies. It is imperative that we in India quickly learn to respect our ancient heritage, our plant-based cuisines, and our know-how of marrying simple, sustainably grown and obtained ingredients with layers of flavour, turning them into gourmand delicacies that not only give delectable comfort today but also protect our physical health, keep our minds active, and bless our children with a greener planet tomorrow.