#growyourownfood
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#LongRead #HomeCooking #GrowYourOwnFood #atmarnirbharbharat Why are we being sold the strange idea that a modern India doesn’t need kitchens, and that we should be like Singapore, where food is outsourced, and homes are just sleeping pods? What a terrible loss that would be! A kitchen is where health begins, where families gather, where food is not just fuel but memory, love, and connection. There is something deeply satisfying about the sound of a knife slicing through a crisp, fresh vegetable just plucked from the garden. The gentle crackle of mustard seeds in hot oil, the soft gurgle of daal simmering on the stove, the aroma of curry leaves and a pinch of hing blooming in pure desi ghee, these are the small, everyday miracles of a home-cooked meal. In a world rushing toward convenience, where kitchens are shrinking and takeout boxes pile up, I find myself increasingly drawn to the quiet, grounded rhythm of growing my own food, cooking, and eating at home. It is a return to something ancient, something real. Having grown up in Goa, I always loved the taste of home grown fruits and vegetables. Even when I lived in a tiny flat in Mumbai as a single working woman, I had planted tomatoes, curry leaves and green chillies in pots in the balcony. Growing your own vegetables for personal use doesn’t need land, all it needs is dedication and love for green things! My stay at Vaidyagrama last November changed my eating pattern for the better. The simplicity of their meals, their careful attention to ingredients, the way food was treated as medicine as per Ayurveda guidelines, all made sense in a way I had never considered before. So, we changed a few things in our kitchen. We already grew our own vegetables, but now the focus is on cooking small quantities, just enough for one meal. So on most days, our meals begin not in the fridge, but in the soil. A handful of spinach leaves, some tender gourds hanging off the vine, a few okras still dewy from the morning mist, firm, juicy red tomatoes freshly plucked just enough for today’s meal. I often do the plucking myself and I cannot describe the quiet thrill of it, this connection to the earth, this knowledge that what we eat was grown with in our own soil, without a drop of chemicals! Over the years, I have grown different kinds of fruits and vegetables in my garden, at times even achieving that Nirvana state when only the grains, cereals, condiments and oil is bought, and all vegetables and fruits are home-grown. I realise that I am extremely privileged to be able to have this ability, but even if you have buy the vegetables, make home cooking a part of your routine. Hire a cook if you have to, but cooking at home ensures better health for everyone in the family, because you can control what goes into your stomach. Cooking at home is a ritual of care. I know exactly what oil we use, how much salt we add, how little sugar we consume. I have swapped refined vegetable oil for cold-pressed coconut oil and mustard oil. I use Saindhav Namak and rock salt instead of iodised salt. Maida and white sugar are almost entirely gone from the table. We eat by 7:30 pm whenever we can. If I must eat out while traveling, I follow a simple rule. I start with a katori of daal or sambar, eat lightly in the evening if lunch was heavy and have just soup or fruits, Small, mindful shifts that have changed everything. And the results? More energy, better digestion, deeper sleep. I feel lighter, clearer, more in tune with my body. This is no magic, no extreme diet, no expensive supplements. Just the simple power of eating what our grandmothers ate, at the time they ate, cooked the way they cooked. - Shefali Vaidya
Shefali Vaidya. 🇮🇳23,183 görüntüleme • 1 yıl önce
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