food, wellness and more...
In my early teens, I suffered from a chronic skin condition that just couldn’t be cured by Allopathy. Finally, my parents took me to a traditional medical practitioner, who treated me for six months, at the end of which I was completely cured. But for those six months I was restricted to a strict salt …
There are many different ways we prepare raw foods to make them palatable. Ayurveda says आरोग्यमं भोजनाधीनाम् (arogyam bhojanaadheenaam), health depends on the food one consumes. The foremost Ayurveda classic Charaka Samhitha describes various methods of संस्कार (samskara) which is preparing the raw food for consumption. It is said that संस्कारो हि गुणांतर आधानाम् उच्यते …
Andal sang நூறு தடா நிறைந்த அக்கார அடிசில் சொன்னேன் (I promise to make 100 pots of akkara adisil); Dasaratha’s wives were given payasam from the Puthrakameshti yagam in order that they beget sons. It is also said (Bhavartha Ramayana of Eknath Maharaj) that Hanuman was born as a result of Anjana Devi drinking a drop of …
Anyone who thinks pachadi is just an un -obtrusive side dish in the South Indian meal, think again. Pachadi is generally thought of as the South Indian equivalent of the raita, but it is really so much more than a raita. The varieties that we have are indeed mind boggling, with each of the four …
The Puranas have made many references to it. In the Mahabharata, Jarasandha, crown prince of Magadha was born as a result of a mango blessed by a sage and shared by both his mothers. Kalidas has paid tribute to the sweet smelling mango blossoms that herald the arrival of Vasanta Ritu or Spring, as has …
There is absolutely nothing to beat the taste of freshly churned butter and clarified butter known as ghee that is made with this butter. We have known of churning butter from the days of Lord Krishna. There are stories, poems and songs galore about the naughty baby Krishna stealing the freshly churned butter not only …
Peanuts (groundnuts, கடலை, मूँगफली) are a great source of protein and there is the added bonus of antioxidants, key vitamins and minerals. The fats in peanuts are heart healthy mono and poly unsaturated fats. Peanuts are very commonly eaten as a snack “time pass” in India. The boiled/steamed tender peanuts, roasted peanuts, masala peanuts, chikki …
The ubiquitous neem tree, Azhadirachta Indica (probably one of the few Latin names I remember from my Botany days) is oft ignored. The medicinal values of the leaves, twigs, oil and flowers are far too many to enumerate here. Suffice it to say that this is something we all need to incorporate into our daily …
உணவே மருந்து, மருந்தே உணவு (food is medicine, medicine is food) is a basic tenet of our traditional medicinal systems. In South Indian cuisine, the simple rasam (சாற்றமுது which is saaru + amudu; in vaishnava sampradayam, different dishes of the daily meal are named as different types of amudu or nectar) holds a very important place …
When you reach out for the most attractively packaged or the most advertised soap / shampoo on the shelf in the store or for the one that promises the most amazing results, stop and think about what it is that you are using so generously on the largest organ in your body, the skin. …