Throwing Up Some Food Myths:

Buy it, consume it, forget it. Who wants to know what games food plays once down the gullet, so long as it satisfies your palate and pangs? No thinking about food, ergo no modern myths. Yet, there are still many homes where traditional food myths sur

Updated on: 7 February 2024 7:30 pm

Foods are either cold or hot. Hot foodswheat, meat, fish, eggs, coffee, spices and mangoesare considered strength-giving and to be eaten in winters, while cold foods like rice, curd, buttermilk are summer foods. This notion also connects with disease. So, diarrhoea is treated with cold foods while hot foods are recommended for respiratory ailments. Says nutritionist K.T. Ach-aya: "The hot-cold theory does not fit in with modern nutritional knowledge."

Ghee is the most digestible of all fats and is a great strength-booster.Which probably explains why most Indian hearts and bellies go to pot.

Fish, eggs and pumpkin are taboo for pregnant women. Baseless, dont deprive mothers-to-be of excellent nutrients.

Dals should not be fed to children as it is gas-forming. Untenable and unfortunate, as the myth deprives the child of an important source of proteins.

Published At: 1 November 1997 12:00 am