Albeit tied to traditions of Hinduism, the inherent non-secularism has a very expansive scope.
The vegan, vegetarian, and flexitarian foods were there in the United States of America before the advent of plant based foods just a decade ago. To my amazement, lentil soup today is much more glorified than impossible and beyond meat burgers. What the West still doesn’t realize is the nutritional and shelf-life enhancement values of India’s herbs and spices, specifically daily mineral supplement like chaat and garam masala. South India’s RASAM is truthfully a vegetable broth that complements a rice dish. Probiotic dahi (yogurt), seven grain sattu, low water activity laddu and Gulab Jamun, fried chapati (puri), dried fruits, and high fiber foods have been the corner stones of Indian cuisine. Food and lifestyle including yogic exercises and 24 intermittent fastings {the vratas in India) have added immeasurable health value to India’s masses. Food safety and shelf-life extension was their in India eons ahead of T. P. labuza’s idea of Water Activity control. A thought-experimentalist will find yet to uncover medical concepts burried in India’s Ayurveda. Rishi Bharadwaj, the father of Ayurveda, expounded many critical thought experiments on plant-based medicine. India’s ages old long shelf-life fried chapati, gulab jamun, and laddo are low water activity foods: Puri- 0.359, Motichur Laddu-0.70, and Gulab Jamun- 0.75. The India of the Vedic period knew of Chemical Potential of Water in a food system composed of inslubles, ions, and the dissolved solids.
Both the Indian cuisine and the Western versions thereof are matters of genuine interest to Dr. Shukla in terms of new concepts in product formulation and large-scale manufacturing process design. Dr. Shukla believes that ease of “Problem Solving” comes to those who have an innate capacity to master their thought experiments. To do good science is to think right, imagine, and stay curious in disciplines outside food science and nutrition.
