From fast food to slow food

Slow Food is defined by three interconnected principles:

1. Good food—Food that is of good quality, flavoursome and healthful
2. Clean food—Food production that is done in a way that it does not harm the environment and is clear of harmful chemicals
3. Fair food—Accessible prices of food for consumers and fair trade for producers.

Terra Madre was an amazing experience to know and feel how we are not alone in wanting change. Parallel sessions with lectures, discussions, film shows kept us busy; we home-stayed with local Turinites. Simultaneously Salon del Gusto was also being held in the same premises so that Terra Madre participants could get a taste of good, clean and fair food and also be able to purchase. Salon del Gusto, another Slow Food project, has become a popular international fair dedicated to artisanal, sustainable food and the small-scale producers that safeguard local traditions and grow high quality products.

The highlight of the Terra Madre event

Amidst music and dance at the finale event, the crowning moment was listening to Carlo Petrini speak with passion about the need for safeguarding our food supplies and the importance of saving biodiversity to save the planet. It is he who has been the heart of the Slow Food movement. He founded it with a group of activists in the 1980s and in his words, ‘Slow Food unites the pleasure of food with responsibility, sustainability and harmony with nature.’ In 2008 The Guardian named Carlo Petrini as one of the 50 people who could save the planet. In 2013 he received the highest UN environmental award, Champions of the Earth. It is an amazing story of what one man can achieve. Carlo Petrini is one of the key people responsible for upholding many important practices that promise us safe food. Many hold him in very high esteem, as do I. It is Slow Food that supported The Farmers’ Market, Mumbai, in its first few years for which we are very grateful. And today we are proud to be part of slow food’s global network of farmers’ markets called The Earth Markets which respects the slow food philosophy. (More details on www.earthmarkets.net and  www.farmersmarket.co.in)

 Some other projects of Slow Food are

1. 10,000 Gardens which creates good, clean, fair food gardens in African schools and communities.
2. Ark of Taste draws attention to delicious foods that are at a risk of extinction. Identifying these foods ensures that they stay in production.
3. Presidia sustains quality, protects unique ecosystems, safeguards native breeds and local plant varieties.
4. Chefs’ Alliance is a network of chefs defending food biodiversity across the world.
5. University of Gastronomic Sciences.

Slow Food represents a global movement involving thousands of projects and over 1,00,000 members in over 160 countries. Over 1500 Convivia [Slow Food chapters] exist all over the world and India is just beginning to have a few. It is very simple to become a member. Log onto www.slowfood.com to know more.

Why the need for Slow Food

Slow Food is a watch dog for us as far as our food history goes. Every consumer cannot be expected to know details of what goes into his food. And even though we may take the time to read labels, we all, in our hearts, want to believe that what is available is good for our body, mind and soul. Organisations like Slow Food assist us in ensuring this. For instance one of Slow Food’s projects is “Say NO to powdered milk in cheese” which we may not even be aware of. Similarly there is “Save the Bees”, “No GMO”, “Save Seeds” and many other projects demanding that we safeguard our food chain for ourselves and our future. Slow Food celebrates food and demands that it remains delicious as it is meant to be.

Slow Food recognises the strong connections between the plate, planet, people, politics and culture. Our lives are interconnected with the life of the planet we live on. For too long we have relied on businesses to give us our daily bread without questioning its impact on our health or on that of the earth or on that of the farmer who produces the raw material or his agricultural wisdom that will be lost to us if we are unable to attract his children to the field. If we do not do something quick, our inheritance and traditions will be forever lost and we will have no food on our plates and certainly no food that is nourishing. For too long profit has overtaken ethics. We need to understand the urgent need to go back to our roots and the wisdom of food sanity that is essential to feed the world in a wholesome way.

Slow Food in daily life

Living with full awareness of how our food choices affect the lives of our children is what Slow Food is all about. So, in real terms, what is a Slow Food way of eating and what are its benefits? Being conscious of what one consumes, buying as local as possible [eat the Indian millets as opposed to quinoa, eat sabza seeds instead of chia], seeking out small producers [artisans if you please], knowing the company or people one buys from [at least some research to know the motive behind the company], choosing variety of traditional foods, opting for organic, cooking slowly and eating slowly are some of the ways of ensuring that all is not lost on the food front.

Slow Food began to counteract the influx of Fast Food in our lives. So if we want to taste life in its fullness, we need to slow down to savour it before it is too late.

I have been saying since over three decades, eat according to your taste buds but choose the organic versions of whatever it is you decide to favour [hoping, at least, it isn’t going to be a bunch of refined foods!]. Slow food is saying the same thing, choose whatever, no restrictions, just buy local, buy fair, buy good, buy clean, buy small, buy traditional, buy variety, use some intelligence. This will ensure good life for all and for the future too. So the benefit of understanding the slow food philosophy goes beyond just personal health benefit, it also takes care of the earth in which we reside and all its guardians. Not asking for much, just some common sense.

* Slow Food is a global NGO that envisions a world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who grow it and good for the planet.

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Yang attributes are contractive or centripetal, hot, dense, heavy, flat and low. Yin attributes are expansive or centrifugal, cold, dilated, light, vertical and thin. Foods and people can be categorised according to the balance of these attributes. Men are said to be yang and women are said to be yin, although each has attributes of both—that is to say everything in nature is yin-yang but the proportions differ.

Know the yin from the yang

The following foods are listed in relative order from yin to yang: chemical additives, [the most yin], processed foods, fruits, night shade vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, seaweeds, greens and other vegetables.

Relative order from yang to yin: Starts with salt, eggs, meats, cheese, fish, most grains and brown rice and whole grains.

The yin-yang of foods is judged by characteristics such as their colour, growth pattern, climatic condition, height, density, hardness and sodium-potassium ratio. The most yang colour is red, corresponding to the base chakra i.e. the one closest to the ground. The most yin colour is violet, corresponding to the crown chakra, which is the greatest distance from the ground and the most yin state.

It is important to remember that the more yang-tending or red-orange-yellow fruits are still basically yin in the total spectrum of yang and yin foods. White is a sign of a yin vegetable and black is a sign of a yang vegetable. Vegetables and fruits that are heavier, harder, shorter, and grow slower and horizontally are considered yang. Yin fruits and vegetables are lighter, softer, taller, thinner, grow faster and vertically. Foods that grow bigger and more abundantly in warmer climates are more yin. Bear in mind that the way we cut and cook our food can change its yin-yang quality.

How different is this from Ayurveda?

Ohsawa spent some time in India studying Ayurveda and therefore the many similar concepts between Macrobiotics and Ayurveda. Both systems stress on a balanced diet, based on whole grains including brown rice and millets with a variety of vegetables. In the Japanese system, pulses are replaced by beans and soya. In India, we have a variety of local green leafy vegetables, whilst in Japan seaweed is predominant. Both systems stress the use of natural salt—either rock or sea salt—in place of refined salt. Both systems use cold pressed oil, although the use in India is more liberal and is in addition to the use of ghee. Nuts and seeds are used in both systems; India has a greater variety of seeds. Both systems use a limited amount of natural sugars and not white sugar.

Fruit is essential in the Indian diet because of our climate. This is of course meant to be fruit which is naturally ripened, un-juiced, grown locally or at least within the country, seasonal and eaten on an empty stomach. If not, the magical properties of fruits that are normally alkaline for the body may become just the opposite by contributing to an acidic situation in the blood.

In both healing diets, tomato, brinjal, capsicum and potato are considered to be not the best choice of vegetables, especially when one is recuperating from an illness. These vegetables are more yin than other vegetables.

Can there be too much yin or too much yang?

It is best to stay away from extreme yin and extreme yang foods, except when we use salt to bring balance to our meal just as we use pickles to do the same. Yet, at the same time we need to understand that even if you did consume extreme yin foods, left to its instincts your body would immediately crave the extreme yang food in order to bring the balance that it needs for survival. Thank God it does this, for without it we would all be one big mess, as is the case when we do not follow the signals of our body.

For example, when we reach for the extreme yin alcohol, the body, in its wisdom will crave for its opposite—fried salty snacks or meats or that cigarette. White sugar and white rice will make the body crave similar extreme yang foods.

When you eat too much extreme food, the body survives but in the long term it cannot deal with this stress, since essential known and unknown vitamins and minerals are missing in such foods. Therefore there is an increase in the incidence of depression. The trick, therefore, is to allow your body to do the choosing, but in the range of yin-yang foods that are better balanced to serve our health rather than take away from it.

Ohsawa says that our will is affected by what we consume. A strong will is built by consuming mineral-rich [balanced yang] foods whilst avoiding extreme yin items that deplete our bodies and brains of minerals. Sugary foods, cookies and snacks made with white flour, white rice and carbonated beverages all lack minerals so our blood leaches them from the body, brain tissues, bones and teeth. The continued use of extreme yin foods makes the brain and its functions dilated and makes mental disorders a reality. Thus a yang body is the supportive foundation for a mind that can be yin [open to inspiration], yet probing and creative at the same time.

Thus, a diet predominantly of organic brown rice, millets, lentils, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds will serve us well. These are balanced non-extreme yin and yang foods. Meats, eggs, dairy should form a smaller part of our intake if we enjoy them, but even so, ensure that they are from organic sources. The extreme yin foods, as in refined, chemically processed foods are best avoided. Today we have so many organic options that we have no excuse reaching for foods that lead us away from living to our full potential.

Eating with consciousness allows us to build our immunity. Yes, we can make ourselves germ/virus proof if we just start listening to what our unadulterated taste buds tell us.

I hope that this article has given you an introduction to yin-yang foods without getting you obsessed about it. Don’t let it become one more confusing concept. Instead, make it one more reason to trust yourself when you choose local, seasonal, natural, whole, unrefined and organic foods.

This was first published in the April 2015 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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