Gig Subcontinent #3: Guilt

The next chapter in Vandana Vasudevan’s OTP Please is the yang to the yin of the previous blog. Pleasure was the emotion in that blog, so this one is about guilt.

 

If everyone is ordering in, what happened to maa ka khana? When kids want to order in, the mother wonders whether her cooking is bland? Is the food somehow lacking in something? Sometimes, she’ll try to hard-sell the nutritional value of home cooked meals – so many grams of protein in paruppu usli or arhar dal. To no avail. The argument of price doesn’t make any dent, since one can find food delivery at all price points.

 

It is a fact that a “nutrition transition” is underway. The thalis of India, the equivalent Thakali of Nepal are being replaced. Low-fat, high-fibre foods are replaced by ultra-processed foods high in saturated fats, sodium and sugar. Weight gain, gastric trouble, bacterial infection, diabetes, high BP and heart disease lurk in the future thanks to this dietary change as well as the sedentary lifestyle that goes with it.

“Fixing a meal for yourself takes effort.”

Combine “midnight food availability” with OTT’s and the circadian clock goes for a toss. And so we end up with ever increasing obesity and other illnesses.

 

The “latte factor” refers to the fact that coffee or any other beverage doesn’t cost much, yet make a daily habit of it, and it adds up to quite a bit over the year. This is another problem with the endless variety of online food and the ease with which anything can be obtained.

 

But wait, isn’t all this eating out bad for one’s health? Yes, and there are no good counterpoints to that. Some pointed out that they don’t know what to believe:

“One day, milk is bad; another day, bread is bad.”

 

Historically, food has been for sustenance and at times (in the subcontinent) for reverence (prasadam, end of Ramzan). Now it has expanded to be expressive and passionate. Food is presented to be photographed and posted on social media.

 

YouTube cooking channels have mushroomed as a result – with so much variety tasted and seen everywhere, why not try doing it yourself? But wait, if everyone’s ordering, who’s watching these YouTube channels? A mystery for another book perhaps.

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