The journey of ghee in India has very much been similar to that of yoga. From being thousand years old wisdom that originated in our land, to getting dismissed and disregarded by ‘modern day’ gurus and scientists only to be picked up by the West and reintroduced to us by a different name, both are India’s greatest export to the world.

Ghee or ‘clarified butter’ (as they call it in the West) has always been considered as the promotive of health, memory, intelligence, fertility, of vital essence and nourishment in Ayurveda. Food cooked in desi/ asli ghee used to be a status of prosperity and good health. Until, sometime in 1970s, nutritionists, doctors and pharma companies joined hands to poop that party. A low fat diet was pushed by U.S. Dietary Guidelines in 1977. “Saturated fat is bad for our heart, increases cholesterol and causes heart attacks”, they said. Back at home, we too listened to it and dropped our ghee. Ghee thus made an exit from our foods, our plates and our kitchens.

THE RE-EMERGENCE OF GHEE AS A SUPERFOOD

Now fast forward to today and here’s a new thought – what if research issued 40 years ago was not based on solid evidence? What if we were wrong about ghee?

In the latest review of studies that investigated the link between dietary fat and heart health, researchers say the guidelines in the 1970s got it all wrong. In fact, recommendations to reduce the amount of fat we eat every day should never have been made. In April 2015, USDA reviewed its guidelines and removed the dietary cholesterol upper limit declaring that fat/ cholesterol from food had little to do with the cholesterol circulating in the body. American supermarkets started stocking ‘Indian ghee’ and promoted it as ‘liquid gold’. In Nov 2015, Ghee made it to the list of “The 50 new healthiest foods of all time” by TIME magazine.

So amongst food companies, government policies and scientific bodies, a 5,000-year-old wisdom got erased to be reintroduced as the ‘new’ health food. But the question is –Will ladoos, halwas, parathas smothered with ghee regain its lost glory? Will we be able to overcome a fear that has lived with us for 40 years?

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BENEFITS OF BUTTER– A day spent BETTER with BUTTER

Neglected and underused crops are plant species with a long history of mainly local production and having strong links to the cultural heritage of their places of origin.

They have been used for centuries or even millennia for their food, therapeutic and medicinal properties, but have been reduced in importance over time and have been ‘neglected’ by agricultural researchers, food scientists and policymakers. They are ‘underutilized‘ with reference to their potential owing to unrecognized nutritional value, poor consumer awareness and reputation of “famine” food or “poor people’s food”. Infact, the severe genetic erosion of their genepools has resulted in them being termed as ‘lost’ or ‘orphaned’ crops.

One such NUC is the Kachri (other names are Chibad, Sane and Kaachar in various parts of North India) that grows wild in the vast deserts of Rajasthan and like a weed in Punjab. Traditionally used either as pickles, chutney or everyday subzi, it also served as a great nibble for kids plucking it right off the vine. The fact that readymade dips, ketchups and sauces in fancy packaging have replaced our native pickles and chutney is no less than a tragedy. Once an important part of North Indian meals, the present ‘modern’ and ‘fast moving generation’ remains oblivious to its existence, much less its benefits. The Kachri, like many other NUC is a wonderful resource of nutrients – high in protein, calcium and omega-3, also rich in antioxidants, flavonoids and saponins. It acts as a coolant for people living in the harsh arid areas of North-Western India, where it is hard to grow conventional vegetables.

The need of the hour is to encourage cultivation of various NUCs and get them back in our diets. The cross – sectoral benefits of doing so are –

1. Nutrition – NUCs have known medicinal and therapeutic properties and have been used by the local people to cure various diseases. They have been used as curative foods in the traditional Indian Medicine and Ayurveda

2. Economy – Improves income generation for small and medium- scale farmers

3. Climate smart – They adapt to marginal soil and climate conditions. Owing to their potential for dietary diversification, they can contribute to UN Sustainable Development Goal, SDG15 (halt biodiversity loss)

4.  Zero hunger – By reducing our dependency on only major crops for food, they can contribute to the second UN Sustainable Development Goal, SDG2 (end hunger, achieve food security)

A compilation of few NUCs of India based on their origin-

For people like us who have been attached to our land where we come from for thousands of years, food is more than just a sum total of calories and nutrients. Our traditional meals define our identity and represent our relationship with the earth, wind and the sky.

This point, so often lost in an age when processed foods and foods traveling long distances are commonplace, is driven home by special days like today. Mahalaya Amavasya is a special day when we make an offering to express our gratitude and respect to all the generation of our ancestors who have contributed to our life in some way or the other. We not only owe to them our existence but without their contribution we would not even have the most ordinary things in our life, those that we often forget to cherish in the everyday routine and hustle bustle. The language that we speak, the way we dress, much less the food we grew up eating – almost everything that we know today has come to us from generations before us.

Also, during this time, farmers will just begin to harvest their produce and offer the first produce to the ancestors as a mark of respect and thankfulness, before the whole country breaks into festivities of Dusshera and Diwali.

But we, the ‘educated’ are so busy trying to look ‘thin’, ‘cool’ and lose weight that we have taken the food wisdom passed on to us through generations (of course, along with various other teachings of our ancestors) simply for granted and belittled it into some “calorie counting science”. B.M.Popkin, American food science researcher, even coined a term for it – ‘Nutrition Transition’ – The transition of developing countries from their traditional diets to more Western pattern diets of packaged & processed foods, that in turn is causing increased rates of adverse health and obesity.

Hope this Pitru Paksh, we find an opportunity to not only offer gratitude but also go back to our roots where we come from, not only to lose weight but also to leave behind a legacy of health and well being for all generations to come.