Mindful Eating: Perspectives From Ayurveda

In 2016, I had raised the idea of a “satvik” symbol for processed foods, much like our green/ brown dot symbols for vegetarian/ non-vegetarian foods. Key questions revolve around market potential, benefits to the consumer and the industry, and the nature of such a label (who will certify to what standards).

- Kaushik Shankar

Health and wellness is a trend that has been dovetailed into food formulations over the past decade in the west. This has taken the form of calorie reduction, fortification with minerals/vitamins, addition of nutraceutical ingredients like fibers, antioxidants and omega-3. In India, this trend picked up even as the processed food industry began to start making inroads.

Many traditional societies have developed the idea of food influencing characteristics/mood/ physical well being of the human body based on esoteric concepts of energy flows. In India, this is codified in the traditional systems of medicine – Ayurveda, siddha, and regional systems. Of these, Ayurveda has a pan-India presence and appeal.

Ayurveda, as a upaveda of the Atharva veda was codified in the charaka Samhita with three branches, of which the nara Ayurveda deals with human wellbeing. The 27th chapter of the charaka Samhita (annapana vidhi adhyaya) deals with the process of partaking food along with cooking methodologies. While undeniable that this teaching has been an integral part of life over millennia in Bharat, current processing methods and formats must be heavily experimented with to align with this principle. This is the first challenge.