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The choice is yours, really!

The trend is about differentiating between ideal healthy food and avoidable food

I do have a choice. Shall I become a vegetarian or shall I continue with non-vegetarian food? After all, at a time when green food is in and health experts are waxing eloquent on the merits of vegetarian food, it can't hurt to stay away from meat and eggs. Then again, there are joys of non-vegetarian food, and the nourishment it provides brooks little debate. So, we all have asked ourselves this question a number of times without ever getting a clinching answer. In fact, often we have left it unanswered.

Well, let's look at the current food trend to find some answers to that very question of food on which each of us spends around 110 minutes, on an average every day, or shall I say effectively 12 per cent of the available time in a day!

The current food fad is not about how to differentiate between foods as vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Rather, it is differentiating between ideal healthy food and avoidable foods. It is not only about whether one shall eat cheese or not, but it is one step ahead. It is about "what" type of cheese one shall eat. The choice really is between "any cheese" and "low fat cheese". Similarly the choice is not about just "fish" but "which fish". You can pick up protein-rich tuna or any fish available in the market. The choice is more between the "meat" and the "lean meat". Between "farm chicken" and "free range chicken". The question of preference becomes further evident when you see people deciding between organically grown and non-organically grown vegetables! The favoured position these days defines it as "it is all about healthy food!"

Which takes you on the road to becoming "selective" about what you eat. And surprise! In most cases it is becoming "selectively non-vegetarian". Of course becoming "selective" depends on what you want your food to do with you, that is, lose weight, gain weight, add a few extra pounds of muscle. Or for that matter take care of your heart!

But when you want to be "selective" then you must, for sure, have enough knowledge about the food. And bless all, going by the current food trend, all seem to have a good knowledge, including the calorie count.

Recipe

Tuna apple salad (high in protein, fibre and iron)

Ingredients

100 gm canned tuna, flaked

Half cup thick yogurt

Quarter cup walnuts

One sixth cup raisins

One lemon

Few fresh basil leaves

One stalk tender celery

Two apples

A pinch of clove powder

Method

1. Wash and peel apples, remove the seeds and hard part in the core, slice them roughly.

2. Wash and thinly slice the celery stalk, mix with apples

3. Squeeze lemon juice over the apples and sprinkle the pinch of clove powder over it.

4. Beat the thick yoghurt to smooth consistency and pour over the apples. Mix well.

5. Mix in the cleaned walnuts and raisins.

6. Mix in, very gently, the flaked tuna without further breaking the flakes

Arrange the salad in a chilled serving plate and garnish with fresh basil leaves. Serve.

RAKESH KUMAR

(The author is Executive Chef, Crowne Plaza Surya, New Delhi)

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