Wednesday, April 26, 2017

FRUITS OR VEGETABLES? WHAT'S FOR LUNCH?

The etiquette of Indian dining is one of the most novel and discrete practices in the world that never fails to get mentioned in travel books and channels.  The combined flavours of spices, herbs, vegetables and fruits rolling in our tongue fed with our hands and dining with friends and relatives making eating hours one of the most important part of our cultural premise.

We are not people who really like repeating the same vegetables or fruits at least in a period of a week. Why should we when our tropical varieties are really large? Having said that, have you given a thought on how do we really differentiate between fruits and vegetables?

Okay, so before you read further categorize the following as vegetables and fruits

CARROT
PUMPKIN
CUCUMBER
POTATO
CABBAGE 

BROCCOLI
GREEN PEAS
BITTER GOURD
PLANTAIN STEM
ONION
TAPIOCA
CHILLI
TOMATO
BRINJAL

We eat so many varieties of fruits and vegetables but sometimes never gave a thought on what actually differentiates them other than the general notion that fruits are sweet and easily consumed uncooked, vegetables usually savoury.
It is not just looks but even taste can be deceptive!
By definition, botanically, A fruit is the mature ovary of a seed plant, usually developed from a flower. 
A fruit is simply the seed bearing structure of a plant mostly growing out of a flower. The rest parts of a plant that are edible are the vegetables. Roots, Stem, leaves, flowers etc are vegetables.

Now check if your answers to the list were right or wrong.

CARROT                              Vegetable
PUMPKIN                             Fruit
CUCUMBER                         Fruit
POTATO                               Vegetable
CABBAGE                           Vegetable
BROCCOLI                          Vegetable
GREEN PEAS                       Fruit
BITTER GOURD                  Fruit
PLANTAIN STEM               Vegetable
ONION                                  Vegetable
TAPIOCA                              Vegetable
CHILLI                                  Fruit
TOMATO                               Fruit
BRINJAL                               Fruit

Carrot, radish etc form edible part of the root of the plant and hence termed vegetables. Similarly potatoes, tapioca are tubers (the fleshy roots) which also come under vegetables. Cauliflower and broccoli for the flowers, Cabbage the extended leafy part of the plant and Plantain stem all come under vegetable categorization. The rest of them bear seeds including bitter gourd and brinjal. Chilies, bell peppers are seed bearing and hence fruits.

So what is for lunch? Rice or Roti? And if I say we have a bowl full of cooked dry-fruits every day, would you agree?
Cereal grains are also a type of fruit - a dry one-seeded fruit in which the ovary wall is united with the seed coat, typical of grasses and cereals. So basically rice, wheat, corn kernels are typically seeds – dried seeds often called dry fruits.  
But remember an unripe corn is a vegetable!
Pulses, lentils are all seeds that grow in a pod. A pea pod is a fruit and Pea by itself a seed.

So how many vegetables and fruits did you eat for LUNCH today???

Sunday, April 2, 2017

THE AROMATIC STORY OF COFFEE

Chocolate, men, and Coffee - Somethings are better rich wrote an Unknown.

Coffee – seems so harmless and feels so magical. Each time you hold the mug (or the cup) the aroma stirs your nostrils for more, the decoction blends beautifully giving a treat to your eyes, and the warmth makes you calm even in summer.

Coffee was eaten before it became a drink !!!

But did you know coffee was eaten before it became a beverage?
The legend of Ethiopian coffee estates says that a Kaldi, a goat herder had fed the coffee beans to his goats. He observed them active for a longer period than usual and tried eating it himself once. It kept him awake for a longer time and helped him manage his work better. He and his wife made energy bars out of these coffee beans and ate them until Kaldi, one day revealed about the energy bar to the abbot (head of the monastery) of a local monastery.
The abbot made a drink out of it for an easier consumption. He was a monk after all!!!
And hence came COFFEE into existence which is now  a billion dollars business all over the world.

5 Historical attempts to ban Coffee.

Ever imagined a ban on coffee. Seems next to impossible now. But the period between 16th to 18th century witnessed 5 big attempts to ban coffee from their territory.

1.       In 1511 MECCA banned coffee as the governor thought coffee would lead to more hanging out, stimulating radical thinking and thus lead to a stronger opposition. Also a few Sufi saints used it as a funeral bowl to keep them awake whole night for prayers.

2.       In Italy the clergymen pressed a ban on coffee and label it satanic but Pope Clement VIII did fall in love with its taste and the lord saved the coffee from a BAN!!

3.       When Murad IV claimed the throne of Ottoman he banned coffee and its usage led to penalities like first use called for a beating and the second time the user was sewn in a leather bad and thrown in the sea! I wonder if a census of such death was recorded? A lot can really happen over a coffee!

4.       Sweden had a sweet way of killing convicted murderers - making them drink tons of coffee. Convicts loved and the monitoring doctors bored counting how many cups of coffee would kill a man.

5    Fredrick the Great of Prussia banned coffee as the consumption of beer produced was hindered. So he made a royal statement for circulation “His Majesty was brought up on beer”.
Royal Cheers to beer didn’t seem to work the magic like coffee though.


Be it coffee, latte, cappuccino, espresso or just our own FILTER KAPI, we love it and a ban on it would surge a war.