As a vegan, I often get asked “where do you get your protein from?”
And I say, where my parents and grandparents got it from - not from fads, not from powders, not from “supplements”, not from packets packed in factories and labelled as “protein”, but mainly from pulses, and sometimes from dairy, eggs, fish and meat. Always mixed with carbs and fat, never on its own. From tasty, traditional food evolved from local terrain, culture and people. And festivals.
And Vijayadashami tells us all what our culture and tradition saw as “protein”, and our forefathers built a festival around it.
Guess what? I just realised this is the only Protein Festival of India, where the emphasis is for women to consume these pulses. To build strength, for regeneration, especially when the women of the household get neglected in terms of their nutrition. Such were the olden days. Partly true even today.
Incidentally, in Tamil Nadu, the celebrations centre around the use of pulses for all the 9 days. Sundal, as the dish is called, is simply boiled pulses, mixed with basic condiments like salt, pepper, garnished with grated coconut. Yummy! Healthy! And Quick!
Such was our relationship with food...interweaving food, health, culture, tradition, farming, festivals and seasons. We never thought of food in a simplistic reductionist way - protein, fat and carbs!
But today, we have gone a bit too far on Protein. Protein is now touted as the be all and end all of nutrition. Many of my friends are into consuming egg whites (many eggs at a time!). Some others are into whey protein. Some are into a Paleo or Keto diet high in protein. Youngsters aim for 6-pack abs or photogenic biceps by consuming protein powder or supplements.
On this obsession on protein, the National Institute of Nutrition came out recently with a recommendation to avoid protein powders and such.
And if you are wondering, if you are having enough protein, or about what kind of protein to have, here is my take on it.
Happy to engage on this issue. Please do share your comments/thoughts.
Happy Vijayadashami! (aka Sarawathi Pooja, Durga Pooja, Dussehra, and so many others that I may not be able to name!) Such Diversity of names and traditions! Just like we have at Bio Basics, India’s most diverse granary of heritage grains! (Had to do a commercial at least here!!)
