Local condiments for long life
by Rosanne Koelmeyer Anderson
Coriander seeds |
Garlic |
Lemon leaves |
Cloves |
Food is the basic requirement for survival. The natural habitat of
animals show us that different animals require different types of food
basically carnivorous or herbivorous. However, there is still
controversy as to what group man should fall into.
Healthy traditional and indigenous Sri Lankan cooking was based upon
the therapeutic principles and the role of medical sciences and culinary
art which incorporated our very own condiments as a natural cure for all
diseases, says Dr. Vajira P.S. Seneviratne, visiting lecturer of the
Moratuwa University cum pharmaceutical consultant, a multidisciplinary
academic with integrated knowledge of Ayurveda and modern Pharmaceutical
Sciences.
"We Sri Lankans have so much to boast of yet we pay very little
attention to making the best of what is freely available in the spice
gardens of Sri Lanka. There are forty spices and condiments which we
could include into our daily culinary art and almost all are derived
from plants. These condiments are not only used as food addictives in
cooking but have also been used as powerful medicines or remedies for
generations", Dr Seneviratne explained.
"Sri Lankan mothers in the good old days had such fascinating
knowledge about the value and the use of these food items in day to day
cooking as well as its therapeutic value. Her kitchen about a century or
two ago was entirely different.
Plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits were the order of the day and
her 'kitchen' of old could have been described as an in house natural
medical store or herbal pharmacy.
Traditional cooking was based on the use of spices from the spice
gardens. Nothing could substitute for nature. The moment we depart from
nature the more we suffer in the long run. These concepts should be
introduced to the mothers and women of today it is the answer to a less
trouble free longer life.
Condiments contain important rich nutrients and fibres, antioxidants,
phytochemicals and vitamins, and many of these are potent medicines".
It is interesting to note that Cumming seed, sweet cumming and
coriander are mild basic medicines for anybody, from infanthood to old
age.Cumming, tumeric and coriander are the best medicines for managing
diabetes while Dambuj or Goraka is said to lower the excessive fat and
cut the bad cholesterol in the blood.
Garlic on the other hand is a universal medicine proven to lower
excessive fat and controls high blood pressure as well as a powerful
cancer fighting food supplement, Dr Seneviratne added.
Among the life giving condiments we could include in our daily
culinary delights are curry leaves, rampe, lemon grass or sera, ginger,
pepper, salt, chillie, mustard, Fenugreek or Uluhal, cardamom, cloves,
belling, lime, cinnamon or kurundu, tamarind, tomato, Davul curundu,
onions, both red and Bombay onions, drumstick leaves and bark or murunga,
coconut, nutmeg or tarika, papaw, rice as a thickening agent, mint
leaves, toddy, maize, trickle or kithul jaggery, vinegar, oil, blackseed
and water.
Afterall, a little bit of pain means gain; health is wealth in the
long run.
[email protected] |
