An alert issued regarding unhealthy packaged foods, and how food nutrition labels can and cannot help us to become aware. ************************************************************************************** I know you all kids must be excited about Dusshera and Diwali. The whole month you’ll be exchanging sweets and offering scrumptious feasts. Our friends and families will enjoy beautifully wrapped gifts of savouries— chocolates, candies, chips, soft drinks, and what not! Their advertisements will flood our television screens and social media, and even masquerade as a renewed form of celebration with the …

Kick start this new year on a wise and healthy note with a mouthful of millets. Learn more about their varieties, benefits, and environmental importance. ************************************* Hi friends! Have you ever reflected upon the usual grains that we eat every day? Apart from the most popular, wheat and rice, there are a lot of other cereals that we consume like sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), finger millet (ragi), and buckwheat (kuttu). Most of these are local foods and are prepared on special occasions like fasts or festivities...

Fermented food is not only tasty but it is also good for health **************************************************************************************** Babbi tugged urgently at her Mom’s kurta. “Mom, there is some white, gooey stuff oozing out of that big pan on the kitchen slab,” she whispered. Mom looked at the direction Babbi was pointing towards. “My dosa batter” She muttered and transferred part of the gooey liquid into another pan...     

The fruit’s flour is nutritious and easy to use. Babbi stared hard at the bunch of green bananas that her dad was carrying. The thick stalk had some 50 bananas. “What will we do with these?” she pondered.  But her parents were very excited. “We are going to turn this into flour,” mother informed and told Babbi to go wash her hands and come help.  By the time she returned, everyone in the kitchen was busy…

This member of the cucumber family goes back thousands of years

The beautiful and healthy lotus stems—you can find these stems being sold by roadside vendors, especially along roads that run by a river or a pond. The light brown or white, sausage-like tubular vegetable has holes in it. These are lotus stems and they are used widely in Indian, Chinese and Japanese cuisine. They are relished for their taste and nutritional value. Known in Hindi as bhe or kamal kakri, the lotus stem contains hollow air channels that run the length of the stem. It is crunchy, sweet and tastes like water chestnut. It has a delicate flavour and is suitable for eating raw or cooked...