Growing up, I had a ton of questions about everything including the food we made during our festivals. I was intrigued on why we made those yummy foods only on those days and not so much on other days. I always wondered why we had special foods that we absolutely make for specific festivals. For example, during Sankranthi, we always made sweet pongal. We ate lots of sugarcane and we also do bhogipallu for the little ones. I always wanted to know the reason behind why these traditions existed.

My mom ever so patiently tried to explain everything to me. She didn’t know much about these either because the norm was to shut down the kids (sometimes adults too) when we ask why certain traditions need to be followed. But, my mom told me that rice, jaggery and sugarcane are harvested during that time and people celebrated the harvest by making sweet pongal. There are lots of traditions and customs in every culture. I don’t know much about the other cultures, although I am curious to learn.

Many traditions and cultures around the world are intertwined with food. When we look closely, there are reasons why we make sweet pongal during Sankranthi and paanakam during Sri Rama Navami. After coming to the US, I realized that people celebrate similar festivals and holidays around the world. Here in the US, fall is associated with everything pumpkins. That is because again it is the harvest season and pumpkins are available in abundance.

Even in India, the traditions and the food we cook vary from one state to another and also within the same state. My husband and I are from similar families and grew up in the same city and yet the food that we ate while growing up differs in many ways. Although we grew up in the same city, our ancestors are from different parts of the state. There are very few dishes that both my mom and my mother in law make the same way. The weather determined the crops that grew in any particular area and our day to day cuisine depended on that. I firmly believe that we should eat the local seasonal fruits and vegetables in abundance. These have the nutrients necessary for our bodies to thrive in that weather. Many studies have proven that eating local seasonal fruits and veggies is healthy for our body.

After I started learning about the biochemistry of food and the gut microbiome, I learned that eating the locally grown seasonal fruits and veggies will strengthen our gut microbiome and in turn protect us from the local diseases. The research done with the gut microbiomes also show seasonal variations based on the food we eat.

This is really a fascinating subject and one that I can keep reading about forever. I have been learning about how to stay healthy by consuming the right foods for a long time now. But, when I look back, I don’t remember everything. I am always trying to come up with healthy foods without giving up the foods we love. This blog is an attempt to write about everything I learn regarding nutrition and general health and the experiments I do in my kitchen.