Wellness Cuisine In Bali

Bali’s hotels and retreats are giving wellness cuisine a flavourful dose of rejuvenation, as demand for thoughtful nourishment increases. Eve Tedja gets in on the Island’s eat-well movement.

A bowl of salad used to be considered enough when one tries to eat well without needing to put serious thought into what really goes into the food. But as the awareness about our health increases, so too the realisation that what we feed our bodies daily matters. Embracing a healthier lifestyle and a specific diet, be it ketogenic or raw, is becoming the new norm. People are much more aware of the importance of mind body connection and are now more open to the idea of actively incorporating wellness in their everyday lives.

As the number of conscious consumers increases, it is not surprising that the global wellness industry is now worth $4.2 trillion. Based on 2017 data released by The Global Wellness Institute, healthy eating, nutrition and weight loss contributed $702 billion, while wellness tourism was valued at $639 billion. Clearly, wellness has become a priority even when we travel. Staying at a beachfront resort in the past used to mean we would sip margaritas while finishing a paperback novel. Now, we would also be joining a sunrise yoga class, eating a roasted cauliflower kale salad with pumpkin seeds, and splurging on Ayurvedic body treatments recommended for our dosha. As more people seek meaningful, empowering experiences that they can take back home and apply to their daily lives, joining a wellness retreat becomes one of the best ways to experience and jumpstart a lifestyle change.

In response to this lifestyle need, cafés and fine dining restaurants in Bali have been expanding their menus to include raw, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, and pescaterian-friendly dishes and beverages for their guests. Finding creative ways to integrate cuisine into wellness programmes have also become a key priority of well-known retreats, such as Six Senses Uluwatu, Bali; REVĪVÅŒ Wellness Resorts, Anantara Seminyak Bali Resort, and the COMO Shambala Estate.