Microwaves, Maida, And A Missing Culture: What's Happening To Kashmiri Food?

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer)
Representational photo

By Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad Wani

In every Kashmiri home, food has always been more than just sustenance. It's memory, ritual, identity.

Dishes like haakh, nadru yakhni, rista, and rogan josh were once prepared slowly, often over firewood, allowing flavours to deepen and ingredients to release their healing qualities.

Breads like girda, tchot, and lawasa were baked in local kandar waans. They were hand-kneaded, naturally fermented, and slapped onto hot clay walls.

Even our staple rice, or batta, was boiled in open pots, with the starch-rich water (kanz) drained out to keep it light on the stomach.

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Today, the dishes remain. But something essential has changed. They don't nourish us the way they once did. Why?

The answer lies in how we cook them.

The pace of modern life has brought an avalanche of kitchen gadgets. Microwaves, rice cookers, air fryers, pressure cookers, non-stick pans, kettles. These have made cooking quicker, but they've also stripped our food of its vitality.

Take rice. Cooked in electric pots, it often turns sticky and heavy. Unlike traditional boiling, which drains excess starch, rice in a cooker retains it, raising its glycemic index and making it harder to digest.

Over time, this can disturb blood sugar balance, increase weight, and slow digestion.

Pressure cookers are now used for everything, from rajma to yakhni. While time-saving, they destroy heat-sensitive nutrients like vitamins B1 and C.

A traditional yakhni brewed slowly was calming and aromatic. Cooked under pressure, it often feels heavy and lacks depth.

Microwaves, another staple, come with their own problems.

Leftovers like haakh or nadru, often reheated in plastic containers, are unevenly warmed and can absorb harmful chemicals like BPA. The food may fill us, but it doesn't fortify us. Repeated exposure may even prove mildly toxic over time.

Even bread has changed. Girda, once fermented with wild cultures and baked in tandoors, is now often made with baking soda or instant yeast. This shortcut skips natural fermentation, which aids digestion and supports gut health.

Add to that the refined maida used in bakeries, stripped of fiber and nutrients, and we get bread that raises blood sugar and disrupts digestion.

Our tea culture has also suffered. Noon chai, once lovingly brewed for over an hour in a samavar, is now hastily prepared or reheated multiple times. The result? A brew that's no longer soothing but acidic.

Drinking water from electric geysers, another growing habit in winters, poses risks too. These appliances often harbour metallic residues or stale water, unfit for regular consumption.

Air fryers and deep fryers come with their own risks.

Air fryers, though marketed as healthy, use high temperatures that can form acrylamides, compounds linked to cancer, especially in starchy snacks. Deep frying in reused oils, common in homes and markets, generates trans fats that harm the heart and raise inflammation.

Non-stick pans, though convenient, release toxic fumes when scratched or overheated. Everyday dishes, like omelets or shallow-fried paneer, can carry traces of these toxins, subtly harming our liver and hormone systems over time.

Even boiling water in electric kettles can be problematic. They often over-boil, leaving water flat and lifeless. Many families reheat tea in them, unknowingly destroying its antioxidants.

Plastic containers are another hazard. Storing hot food, like leftover rista or rice, in plastic leads to chemical leaching, altering flavour and disrupting hormones.

All these conveniences come at a hidden cost. Our food may look the same, but its energy, digestibility, and healing power are fading. The result? A slow but steady rise in acidity, IBS, obesity, hormonal disorders, and fatigue, even among the young.

So what's the solution?

Not rejection, but restraint. Use rice cookers mindfully. Wash the rice well, avoid the 'warm' mode for hours. Pressure cook pulses, not everything. Swap non-stick pans for steel or iron. Never microwave food in plastic. Use air fryers sparingly. Don't reuse oil. Boil water in clean steel or copper vessels. And when you can, cook slowly. Cook with love. The way our grandmothers did.

Let's return to the principles that made our food more than just fuel. Let it once again become our strength, our medicine, and our cultural memory.

Not by abandoning modern life, but by cooking with intention, and heart.

• – The author is an Assistant Professor at the Directorate of Physical Education & Sports, University of Kashmir.

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