Lives are busy, there isn’t time to cook three times meal a day and so our kitchens are filled with ready- to- eat foods. We grab a protein bar when getting late for work. Gradually frozen food became our go – to party snack. Cake packets make their way to lunch boxes. We have been told a lie. A lie that is packed or preserved food products are safe. When in a hurry we can pack a ready- to – eat bowl instead of some homemade food. Well, it isn’t. We have seen advertisements claiming the goodness of chapati in a bowl of cornflakes. Again, it is a lie. We have been told that protein bars are healthier than Indian thali. Not true. Our Indian food consists of vegetables, lentils, carbohydrates, dairy, pickles. Weare made to believe that protein bars replace our homemade food. How can a protein bar replace the homemade food. Anything that is packed, processed and preserved cannot be healthy. Most packed food has three common ingredients. Preservatives, excess salt and artificial food colour which is again unhealthy. How could a pack of biscuit stay months? Because it comes out with chemicals which extends their shelf life, but reduce yours. Imagine the amount of preservatives that go in making this packaged food like bread,cake and everything else that is industrially packed. Salt too is preservative as most of the packed food like chips are loaded with salt which extends shelf life and enhances the taste buds. But at what cost? Microwave have become common while cheese and bread has replaced your traditional breakfast. Is the habit sustainable? Should we consider eating packaged food even after knowing it? Is it worth risking our health? So, what do we do? Cook three meals a day? The point of this piece of writing is to tell you that we should reduce the intake of processed food and it is high time we realised some of the things in our kitchen is harmful. Homemade snacks may look dull in comparison but it is safer. It is time to rethink what we take for granted. Time to reconsider the food in our kitchen. I know it’s impossible to throw every packed, preserved, or processed food item in our kitchen. But you can always limit our consumption if we are looking to stay healthy, to stay fit, if our goal is to take care of our body, maximize the intake of homemade food. Our traditional food has medicinal properties.
Kodandera Mamatha Subbaiah
