This chapter explores the food we eat, its components, and how to eat in a way that keeps the body healthy. It begins by noting the great diversity of traditional foods across India, which depends on the crops grown locally and on taste, culture, and traditions, and observes how cooking practices have changed over time from the chulha and sil-batta to gas stoves and electrical grinders. The heart of the chapter is the study of the components of food, called nutrients: carbohydrates and fats are energy-giving foods (carbohydrates from cereals, potatoes, and fruits; fats from nuts, seeds, oils, and ghee), proteins are body-building foods (from pulses, beans, milk, eggs, and meat), while vitamins and minerals are protective nutrients that guard the body against disease. Using historical cases — James Lind and scurvy, and iodine deficiency and goitre in India — the chapter links deficiencies of specific nutrients to diseases, summarised in a detailed chart of vitamins (A, B1, C, D) and minerals (calcium, iodine, iron) with their sources, deficiency diseases, and symptoms. In addition to nutrients, food must supply dietary fibre (roughage) and water. Simple tests are described to detect starch (iodine turns it blue-black), fats (an oily patch on paper), and proteins (a violet colour with copper sulfate and caustic soda). A balanced diet provides all nutrients, roughage, and water in the right amounts for one's age, activity, and health, whereas junk foods, high in sugar and fat but low in other nutrients, are unhealthy. The chapter celebrates millets (jowar, bajra, ragi, sanwa) as nutri-cereals and ends with the idea of food miles — the distance food travels from farm to plate — urging us to prefer local food and avoid wasting it.
Food diversity and changing cooking practicesNutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, fatsVitamins, minerals, and deficiency diseasesTests for starch, fats, and proteinsBalanced diet, junk food, millets, and food miles
Key terms
Nutrients
Components of food that provide energy, support growth, repair the body, and protect it from disease; the major ones are carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals.
Carbohydrates and fats
Energy-giving foods; carbohydrates come from cereals, potatoes, and fruits, while fats come from nuts, seeds, oils, and ghee, and store energy.
Proteins
Body-building nutrients needed for the growth and repair of the body, obtained from pulses, beans, milk, eggs, fish, and meat.
Protective nutrients
Vitamins and minerals, required in small amounts, that protect the body from diseases and keep it healthy.
Roughage (dietary fibre)
A component of food, mainly from plant products, that provides no nutrients but helps get rid of undigested food and ensures smooth passage of stools.
Balanced diet
A diet that contains all the essential nutrients, roughage, and water in the right amounts for proper growth and development of the body.
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