Sticking to Dadi’s Recipes

Sitting at the dinner table,we often find ourselvescomplaining about thecopious amounts of oilin our saalan, or perhaps themissing crunch from what looklike overcooked vegetables. Canyou blame us? Nutritional scienceis but a baby compared to otherfields, and Dr Google has prettymuch told us that we are not goingto last as long as we had hoped.No wonder we are afraid of butter,egg yolks and most oils.

The truth is that the moreresearch that goes into food – itsnutritional value and best practicesaround cooking and consumption – the more we realise why ancientcultures such as ours come outon top in terms of nutrition andcooking practices. In Pakistan,we have had the benefit ofamalgamating learnings fromIslam and Ayurveda and marriedthe best to help us get the mostfrom what is on our plates.

Let’s take that saalan withoil as an example. While the oilquantities may be a tad excessive,our choice of the oil we use, thespices and herbs combined withthe vegetables and meat (notto mention the chapati), usuallymake for a wholesome andcomplete meal. Let’s break thisdown a bit.

Spices such as turmericincrease the bioavailability offlavonoids and vitamins in themeat, allowing our system tocapitalise on the benefits thevegetables and meat offer.Because the curcumin in turmericis fat-soluble, it is necessaryto consume it along with fat tobenefit from its anti-inflammatoryproperties, which is why it makesperfect sense to cook turmeric ina reasonable amount of oil – adry rub of turmeric on lean meatwill only add flavour but none ofthe amazing cellular level benefits.Similarly, tomatoes (rich in VitaminC) help the gut absorb more ironfrom red meat. The sulphur inonions used in traditional curriesincreases the bioavailability of thenutrients in the meat, while gingerand cumin aid digestion and act asantimicrobials, helping to protectthe gut microbiome. They alsostimulate the digestive juices sowe can reap all the benefits ofthe food we eat. On the subjectof gut microbiomes, Pakistanhas a rich history of fermentedfoods as part of every meal insome way or another. Yoghurtand pickles make an appearancewith, or after, almost every mealand lassi and kanji are two popularfermented drinks.

The oil our grandmothers usedto cook were a far cry from theprocessed and tasteless oneswe have become accustomed to.How many times have you foundyourself complaining about thesmell coming from the kitchen,only to find that a paratha is beingcooked in ghee? We have, overtime, become accustomed to nottasting the flavour of the oil wecook our food in – mainly becausethe oil is now ultra-processed toensure that the taste of the otheringredients comes through. But,shouldn’t we expect olive oil totaste or even smell like olives? Yet,today when we use ghee, coconutor mustard oil to cook, we can’ttaste it, which is why the minuteour paratha smells like ghee, wedon’t like the taste!

Ghee is now highly prized inthe West for its anti-inflammatoryand gut-healing properties. It is thebutyrate in ghee that feeds healthybacteria and promotes better guthealth. Ghee also has one ofthe highest smoke points of anycooking medium, which meanswe don’t have to worry about theoxidative damage processedoils cause. The smoking point ofmustard oil is in fact, even higherthan ghee. Unfortunately, it is alsounnecessarily processed in theWest and has acquired a badreputation for containing too muchhexane. Seed oils too are ultraprocessed and cause damage tothe delicate tissue in our bodies.

Now let’s look at the seeminglyovercooked vegetables. Certainvegetables, for example, beansand lentils, can have a prettynasty effect on the digestivesystem if they are not soaked orcooked appropriately – particularlylegumes that contain largeamounts of phytic acid – andthis is often the reason why hing(asafoetida) is used when cookinglegumes. Raw or semi-cookedvegetables can also be difficult forthe digestive system to handle,and while some vegetables areeasily digested and are morebeneficial when eaten raw, otherslike spinach need to be cookedin order to be absorbed by thegut. So we are better off cookingcertain vegetables until their fibrecontent has softened enough forour digestive tract to handle them,while their minerals become moreeasily absorbed by the body.

Our fruits, vegetables and grainsare exposed to far fewer amountsof pesticides and chemicalscompared to their Westerncounterparts. Our farming practicesand the relatively small size ofour farms reduce the need for theextensive use of pesticides andchemical fertilisers – and becausebugs have not yet become superresistant to our pesticides, we canget away with much less geneticmodification in our seeds, makingour produce easier to digest andless toxic to our gut. Our fruit andvegetables have a distinctive andfresher taste. Pakistanis livingabroad often report that theyare unable to digest the wheatprotein gluten at home, but candigest parathas when in Pakistan.Both pesticides and the geneticmodification of seeds play asignificant role in this disparity.

Scientists tell us to eat thefoods our ancestors consumed,and Instagram tells us avocadoon toast is the best way to startthe day. Quinoa may be the goldstandard for some, but it isn’tnecessarily the Pakistani gut’sbest friend. Brown rice is toutedas healthier than white rice, butconsuming it regularly can causesignificant digestive distress suchas gas and bloating.

But let’s go with the scientistswho say that eating local orfrom within a 10-kilometre radiusof where we live is best. Whyso? For the simple reason thatplant life has a superior immuneresponse to the pollutants in theair compared to human beings.Therefore, the food grown nearwhere we live is able to transferthat superior immune responseto local pollutants to humans.In other words, when weconsume these plants, we reapthe benefits of those powerfulbioflavonoids, making us moreresilient to the potentially toxicexposure of local pollutants.

The study of nutrigenomics isa fairly new entrant in the world ofscience, and tells us about the wayfood speaks to our genes and howit tells our systems to behave in acertain way by pushing specificbuttons. If our genes are inherited,there is an innate wisdom incontinuing to eat as our ancestorsused to, even if the healthy wholefoods of yore are no longer quitethe same. Our genes are less likelyto be affected by environmentalfactors if we can maintain abalance between indulging inwhat is harmful and maintaining ahealthy diet. If we continue to godown the path of ultra-accessible,hyper-palatable processed food,we will eventually fail to buildup the same strong DNA weinherited and pass it down to futuregenerations – and it goes withoutsaying that we will also cut ourown life span. Pakistan has alreadybecome one of the countries withthe highest rates of diabetes andchildhood non-alcoholic fatty liverdisease. It needs to be remindedthat we were never programmedto eat a diet with ultra-processedpizzas and burgers. Our geneticsdon’t support this lifestyle, asdelicious and convenient as itmay be. If you want to make thehealthiest choices for your body,choose traditional over all else!

Nazish Chagla is a functionalnutritionist and health coach.nazish@goodtoglow.net