Mindful Eating: A Path to a Healthy Body
Food and where it grows
Join Medu and Mishti and find out where our food comes from.
In your book, Medu and Mishti read the 'thought of the day' on the school noticeboard: annena jatani jivanti. Mishti explains that this Sanskrit saying means 'food gives life to living beings'.
List what you eat in a week and you will find a lot of variety. Now think of the whole country. Dal in Gujarat is often sweet; in other places it is spicy. Why does food change so much from state to state?
India is an agricultural country with many kinds of soil and climate. Different crops grow in different regions, depending on the soil and the climate there. So the traditional food of a state is usually based on the crops grown in that state.
The book's table shows this:
| State | Crops grown | Traditional food |
|---|---|---|
| Punjab | maize, wheat, chickpea, pulses | makki di roti, sarson da saag, chhole bhature, parantha |
| Karnataka | rice, ragi, urad, coconut | idli, dosa, sambhar, coconut chutney, ragi mudde, rasam |
| Manipur | rice, bamboo, soya bean | rice, eromba (a chutney), utti, singju, kangsoi, with black tea |
See the link? Punjab grows maize, so people eat makki di roti. Coconuts grow along Karnataka's coast, so there is coconut chutney with the dosa.
But crops are not the only reason. What people eat also depends on taste, culture and traditions.
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