In Ian Fleming’s Thunderball, James Bond is sent to a health farm, where he’s put on a diet of carrot broth and nut cutlets. He reacts with typically Bond-ian cynicism, but emerges a transformed human being, physically and emotionally. Sanjeevanam is something like that: a restaurant with a unique philosophy, based on Ayurvedic principles. They serve meals that are delicious, nutritious and designed to give you health and joy. They use only organic vegetables and germinated grains. No oil, onion, garlic, chilli or sugar. The food is cooked over a wood fire, in brass utensils, and always consumed within three hours, or else discarded.
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We were first served five liquids: date juice, almond milk, vegetable broth, buttermilk and rice kanji. This was followed by three different salads, and red, unpolished rice with sambar and rasam. For dessert there was jaggery-flavoured payasam. And, finally, one teaspoon of honey to aid digestion. I must admit it was surprisingly delicious, besides giving us a curious ritualistic pleasure. I have no doubt that such a diet would make us as healthy as the gods, but then there’s the inconvenient reality of thick, juicy steaks and double-fudge sundaes. What to do?
