October 2019 | 506 words | 2-minute read
I am a firm believer in ‘we are what we eat’. A concept derived from Ayurveda, ‘The Science of Life’, where food is medicine and a way of life. In the past few years, I have seen this philosophy reflect in some of the popular food and lifestyle trends with people making healthier, sustainable and informed food choices to improve health and well-being.
Health is a lifestyle
Trends like superfoods, whole foods, local, seasonal, vegan diets and farm-to-table concepts are great examples of how consumers have become conscious about what they eat. Health, fitness and eating healthy should be a lifestyle. Whether you want to lose weight, build muscle or treat that constant headache — the job begins when you eat consciously and consistently.
The first step to ensure that the food you eat nourishes you is to source your ingredients well. We are trying to make better choices when it comes to buying food, but it is still limited to perishables such as fruits, veggies and meats. We don’t put in as much thought while picking spices and masalas, which are not just meant to enhance flavour but add to the nutritive value of what we eat. It is the natural oils in whole spices that are responsible for the colour, aroma, flavour and nutrition. Using spices that are stripped of all this goodness are best avoided.
Sarvagun sampann
Tata Sampann is committed to offering wholesome nutritious food (sarvagun sampann). While making the range of super quality spices and masalas, unpolished pulses (dals) and gram flour (besan), Tata Sampann maintains the integrity of ingredients and sources them from the right places. Tata Sampann’s brand philosophy of ‘sarvagun sampann’ is in sync with my values as a chef.
Adequate care is taken to ensure that these high quality ingredients are not deprived of their nutrients, natural oils and goodness during processing and packaging. All the products are created using the best of both modern science and age-old wisdom so that what finally reaches your kitchen is the real taste with its aroma, flavour and nourishment intact.
Trusty turmeric
Turmeric (haldi), for example, is sourced from Salem in Tamil Nadu, which has the best quality turmeric in the world. While processing raw turmeric, care is taken to ensure that curcumin — the antioxidant ingredient responsible for healing and for the antibacterial and antiviral properties of turmeric — remains intact. Each box of Tata Sampann haldi has at least 3 percent of curcumin that gives the spice its rich yellow colour and various ayurvedic properties. Attention to these details makes the Tata Sampann spices qualitatively different and superior.
Chef extraordinaire and entrepreneur Sanjeev Kapoor introduced his viewers to the delights of Indian and international cuisine in his inimitable easy going and cheery manner through his TV show Khana Khazana, which became the longest running cookery show in Asia.
He is the only chef in the world to have his own channel — FoodFood. Recipient of the Padma Shri, Kapoor was also conferred the Best Chef of India award by the Government of India
