Why people eat with their hands in Kerala

Why people eat with their hands in Kerala

Why people eat with their hands in Kerala You may have often wondered
why people eat with their hands in Kerala. Eating food with your hands
feeds not only the body but also the mind and the spirit. That is the
Vedic wisdom behind Kerala's famous Banana Leaf Experience whose
pleasure can only be appreciated fully, it is said, if one eats with
hands and not fork and spoon.

Traditionally, Indians -- not just in Kerala -- have always eaten with
their hands but the experience and its virtues have been elevated to a
gastronomic art by the chefs at Vivanta by Taj Bekal, a picturesque
26-acre resort in the northern Kasaragod district of Kerala, flanked by
the famous backwaters and the Lakshadweep Sea.

And to lend logic to the eating-by-hand experience for fussy foreigners,
especially Westerners who would think twice before scooping up curry
with their fingers, the maitre d'hotel lays before each guest at
Latitude - the multi-cuisine restaurant with an accent on regional
Kerala cuisine and a scenic view of serene waters and swaying palm
fronds - captured pithily in printed paper the "Vedic wisdom behind
eating with your hands".

"Our hands and feet are said to be the conduits of the five elements.
The Ayurvedic texts teach that each finger is an extension of one of the
five elements. The thumb is agni (fire) -- you might have seen children
sucking their thumb, this is nature's way of aiding the digestion at an
age when they are unable to chew; the forefinger is vayu (air), the
middle finger is akash (ether -- the tiny intercellular spaces in the
human body), the ring finger is prithvi (earth) and the little finger is
jal (water)," the paper explains.

The 'banana leaf experience' has been redefined by the hotel from the
traditional 'sadya', or banquet, in Malayalam, says Ashok Pillai, the
executive sous chief. Sadya is traditionally a vegetarian meal served on
a banana leaf on special occasions, during weddings and other
celebrations. All the dishes are served on the leaf and eaten with hands
sans cutlery, the palm and fingers being cupped to form a ladle.

A sadya can have about 24-28 dishes served as a single course and is
usually served for lunch as it is quite heavy on the stomach.
Preparations begin at dawn and the dishes are made before 10 in the
morning on the day of the celebration. "At Vivanta by Taj at Bekal we
have given a twist to the experience by adding delectable preparation of
fish or meats as per request," Samir Khanna, the affable general
manager, told IANS during a recent trip.

The centerpiece of sadya is navara, a medicinal rice type, that is one
of the native genetic resources of Kerala and famed for its use in
Ayurveda. Navara is used as a nutritional rice and health food and is
said to be therapeutic for conditions such as arthritis, paralysis,
ulcers, urinary tract infections, neuralgic and neurological disorders.

For a novitiate to Kerala cuisine, the food does not stop coming, and
the helpings are as much as you can ingest. Most people stop at the
second helping and react in surprise when waiters with buckets of curry
offer to ladle more on the leaf-plate.

Foreigners, after their initial cultural reservations about eating with
their hands, awkwardly slurp and lap up the food, any messiness be
damned. As a concession to non-vegetarians, karimeen or pearl spot, the
local fish, is served fried or in curry form.

Since the "experience" requires some preparation, those guests who want
to partake of it need to intimate the chef in advance and tables are
laid out separately in the restaurant for those who are eating on the
banana leaf.

A typical sadya menu -

Banana Chips
Jagerry Chips
Achar
Kerala Pappadom
Parippu Curry (Simmered lentils enhanced with ghee)
Pachadi (Preserved cucumber in Yoghurt)
Inchi Puli (An emulsion of tamarind, jaggery and ginger)
Kichadi (Coconut enriched gravy with pineapple)
Erissery (Mashed Pumpkins and red beans in coconut)
Kaalan (Raw banana cooked in mildly spiced coarse coconut)
Olan (White pumpkin simmered with beans in coconut milk)
Avial (Ethnic vegetable cooked dry with coarsely ground coconut and
yoghurt)
Thoran (Any local vegetable cooked dry with coarsely ground coconut)
Kootu Curry (Assortment of vegetables and spices)
Sambhar (Stew of lentil and vegetables)
Pulissery (Tempered yoghurt with turmeric with curry leaf infusion)
Pachamoru (Spiced butter milk)
Banana Payasam (Dessert with jaggery, coconut milk flavored with
cardamom)



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'Bedtime procrastination': the 'modern phenomenon' causing sleep deprivation

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'Bedtime procrastination': the 'modern phenomenon' causing sleep
deprivation

Up all night watching Netflix even after promising yourself an early
night?

Heather Saul
Friday, 6 June 2014

People who plan on getting an early night but instead spend their
evenings binging on their Netflix favourites may be succumbing to the
'modern phenomenon' of bedtime procrastination.

Researchers at the University of Utrecht found people who regularly
failed to get to sleep at the time they intended to were often still
awake because they were struggling to quit other activities, such as
watching Netflix, despite feeling tired.

The authors defined procrastination as the: "voluntary delay of an
intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the
delay".

Procrastination usually involves wasting time to avoid un-enjoyable
tasks, but sleep is not an activity that falls into this category, the
authors noted.

Floor Kroese, who led the study, looked at how procrastinating affected
not only people's ability to sleep, but also how it affected their
general health and well-being.

A team asked questions about the lifestyle and demographic factors of
177 individuals, as well as their sleep patterns and tendency to
procrastinate via an online survey.

Participants were asked to state their level of agreement with
statements such as "I go to bed later than I had intended" and "I easily
get distracted by things when I actually would like to go to bed" in
order to measure bedtime procrastination.

The study found people who did not go straight to bed found it harder to
self-regulate and stick to a workable routine.

"Bedtime procrastination may be a relatively modern phenomenon," Kroese
explained. "We speculate that it is not so much a matter of not wanting
to sleep, but rather of not wanting to quit other activities.

"With the development of electrical devices and the 24/7 entertainment
industry, people may be facing many more distractions now compared to
several decades ago."

The study Bedtime procrastination: introducing a new era of
procrastination" was published in the journal Frontiers.


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Fasting for two days could regenerate the immune system, according to research

Fasting for two days could regenerate the immune system, according to
research

A study by the University of Southern California found that abstaining
from food could trigger white blood cell regeneration

Antonia Molloy
Saturday, 7 June 2014

It's often used as a quick weight loss method – but fasting could also
help the body to fight off disease.

Refraining from food for as little as two days can regenerate the immune
system, helping the body to fight infection, according to a new study.

Scientists at the University of Southern California said the findings
could have major implications for the elderly and people suffering from
damaged immune systems, such as cancer patients.

Researchers tested the effects of fasting for two to four day periods
over the course of six months on both mice and humans.

In both cases, long periods of not eating significantly lowered white
blood cell counts.

And in mice, each cycle of fasting then "flipped a regenerative switch"
that triggered stem cell-based regeneration of new white blood cells,
thereby renewing the body's defence system.

Valter Longo, Professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at
the University of Southern California, said:"It gives the OK for stem
cells to go ahead and begin proliferating and rebuild the entire system.

"And the good news is that the body got rid of the parts of the system
that might be damaged or old, the inefficient parts, during the
fasting."

He added: "Now, if you start with a system heavily damaged by
chemotherapy or aging, fasting cycles can generate, literally, a new
immune system."

The study also found that fasting reduces levels of the enzyme PKA, an
effect which is known to increase longevity in simple organisms, as well
as levels of the hormone IGF-1, which has been linked to ageing, tumour
progression and cancer risk.

In addition, a small pilot clinical trial found that fasting for a
72-hour period prior to chemotherapy protected patients against
toxicity.

"While chemotherapy saves lives, it causes significant collateral damage
to the immune system. The results of this study suggest that fasting may
mitigate some of the harmful effects of chemotherapy," said Tanya Dorff,
assistant professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern
California.

"More clinical studies are needed, and any such dietary intervention
should be undertaken only under the guidance of a physician."

Researchers are now carrying out further studies to investigate the link
between diet and stem cell regeneration.

Professor Longo said: "We could not predict that prolonged fasting would
have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration
of the hematopoietic system.

"We are investigating the possibility that these effects are applicable
to many different systems and organs, not just the immune system."


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Biomorphs evolution visualized

Biomorphs are virtual entities that were devised by Richard Dawkins in his book The Blind Watchmaker as a way to visualize the power of evolution.

(Turn on Javascript and) view this:
http://www.emergentmind.com/biomorphs

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