What’s More Important – Healthy Food or Tasty Food?

Nutrition Vista organized a National Essay Writing Competition to create awareness in India about the importance of nutrition. Following is the winning article of the 9-12 years category, written by Ojasvi Goyal (10 years) of Class 6A. He won a cash prize of Rs 40,000 and was invited to read his essay at a convention where L.K Advani was present.
What do you want to eat when you come home after a long, tiring day at school? Is it spinach? Is it porridge? Is it sprouts? Most likely not. You probably want to relax in a chair and sip coke while eating chips. So would I. But what if the spinach, porridge and sprouts tasted as good as coke and chips? Wow! This combination of health and taste is just what is needed to make the food perfect.
Healthy food is vital for our well-being. With our hectic lifestyles, we require adequate nourishment. It should contain balanced amounts of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and fibre. Though healthy food is extremely important, would a diner even contemplate eating it if it were insipid? I think healthy but bland food is a total waste as it is unappetizing. Imagine eating oats and boiled vegetables day after day!
Healthy food has to be made scrumptious so that it appeals to our sense of taste. Ayurveda places great emphasis on the concept of shad rasa (six tastes)- sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. These should be present in balanced proportions in the diet for optimum health. Aromatic spices, herbs and seasoning like lemon juice, green chutney and so on can make any dish mouth-watering.
The problems start when food is eaten only to cater to the whims and fancies of our taste buds. This is a gilt-edged invitation to malnutrition, diabetes, obesity etc. Food is to the body as petrol is to a car, and junk food can be as hazardous as adulterated petrol. Coke has caffeine and refined sugar which play havoc with the body clock and ruin our teeth; chips have saturated fat and 'empty calories' – you get the picture.
I hope I have convinced you that neither just healthy nor just tasty food is the solution. The answer lies in making healthy food tasty. Just to help you, here are some yummy and healthy snacks: cheese and crackers, flavoured yoghurt, granola bars and string cheese. And if these aren’t available, there are always fruits. Be creative! Bon appétit!

Above: Ojasvi Goel (front row, third from left), Shri L.K Advani (back row, centre) and Mrs. Rekha Krishnan (back row, second from right) attend the Campaign for Children's Awareness on Nutrition 2008.

Re-visiting Old Clichés

On the 18th of October, villages all over India are bathed in an unusual silence. Suddenly this silence is shattered by the typical ‘Nahi!’… Sita adorned in her heavy gold jewellery, embellished attire and pancake laden face is dragged to the stage by a monstrous apparition, Ravana. This fellow has enough powder dusted on his face to make him look like a sugar-coated marshmallow, with ravishing red lips and is covered from head to toe in enough bling to make 50 Cent jealous. The more helpless Sita resisted, the more this beast fell for her. After an eternity of tugging and pushing- the hero emerges… and from the mist came Ram who has at last come to save the love of his life, Sita. The scene changes to aimless flashing of paper-swords (flimsy enough to be torn with one’s bare hands), raging insults and sparks of anger (mixed with sparkly dust) between Hanuman, Sugriva, Ram against the fuming Ravana. Finally, good triumphs over evil (which is so predictable). This is accompanied by deafening patakas and hooting from the audience. As Ravana smolders away (replicated in paper maché – thank the lord!). This is a scene from the mythological Ramayana. But now those formalities are history. A Ram Lila for the ‘new generation’ has been created. The buckets of makeup, heavy jewellery and ‘rona-dhona’ is lost and replaced with frilly tutus and a classical jazz production. The story remains the same, except a few frills are embellished to make this set up more appealing to a varying audience. The first actress to star in this production was a petite Mongolian girl- Shinne. Most of the songs are taken from classical ballet productions like The Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairies. Such productions have consumed the world over, to even the most obscure of places. Whether it be traditional, a modern version of the Ram Lila or its contemporary productions, we can clearly see that this event has existed for aeons. It has served as inspiration for productions such as the kaleidoscope of emotions- anger, love, hate- that has mesmerized many. The proof of the pudding lies in how Indian Mythology has a strong and imposing presence. This is one aspect which sets us apart from the rest of the world. Thus we should keep the spirit of our festivals alive and keep the oil lamp lit in our hearts forever and always.
Tara Sen, 10C