Food was consumed in small quantities saving gluttony for religious festivals.
Rice was the staple and was consumed multiple times a day everyday.
Pazhaya sadham or old rice (rice cooked the previous day and soaked in water to keep), was consumed along with karupatti (palm jaggery) and/or green chili or pickled lemon, mango etc. very often.
Fruits were hardly consumed and if they were consumed, whatever seasonal fruits that were available were consumed.
When possible, ghee (clarified butter) was consumed in abundance.
Lentils were consumed about once a month when ‘specialty’ dishes like dosa and idli were cooked.
2-3 cups of fresh whole milk per person was consumed everyday.
Food items containing wheat (like poori, chapathi etc.) were non-existent.
Buttermilk was consumed (along with rice) when available.
Sweet and savory Indian snacks were made at home from scratch and consumed about 2-3 times a year during festivals.
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Sheetal July 19, 2011 at 7:35 pm
Hi Raj,
Good article, makes you think. My grandfather lived to the age of 98 with hardly any problems, the doctors couldn’t find ANY problems with my nan after complete body check up(at 85 yrs I think), and my other grandfather lived with diabetes for 35 years without insulin…and here I’m, allready advised by doctors to control weight and diagnosed with initial stages of different conditions in early thirties. Would love to read that post on tweaking the SI diet( any other tweaks to North Indian diet would be a great help too:P).:)
Vizeet July 20, 2011 at 12:34 am
I’ll be waiting to learn about traditional Gujarati diet. What I have understood talking to my mother is that, millet was used instead of wheat in Hindu community in those days. I know Muslims and Christians always fermented wheat. Even today Gujarati, rajasthani, punjabi, and haryanawi eat lot of desi ghee.
I know mustard oil has been used for cooking for very long time in Bengal and diabetes is an old disease there. Gary Taubes mentions about it in “Good Calories, Bad Calories”.
Kanika July 19, 2011 at 8:06 pm
OMG it’s like you read my mind on this post!!! I was telling a friend JUST TODAY that after seeing Midnight in Paris, I was daydreaming about slipping into the 1930s era to grow up with my grandparents and live the way they did! Have heard countless stories of fresh lassi, tumblers full of milk, the ever-present GHEE that solved all digestive issues, fresh fruit from trees in the backyard and whatnot, basically a lifestyle that makes my soul salivate 🙂 My grandparents lived in pre-partition Pakistan and came from Zamindar families, so yeah, they were pretty active during the day. They ate plenty of fresh chapattis with their meals (since wheat was predominant in Punjab) but would grind it the old-fashioned way in a chakki (hardcore manual labor). Since they lived in joint families, it was not uncommon for the women to cook 100 rotis per meal, sitting on their haunches, on old-fashioned chulhas. Well, this post this makes me want to pick up the phone right now, dial my surviving grandparents and document the nitty-gritties like you’ve done. A pleasure to read about the grandparent south-indian diet Raj!
Kanika July 19, 2011 at 8:12 pm
PS – my surviving grandfather is 97, grandmom is somewhere in her 80s (date of birth uncertain), my great-grandparents lived till 95, and i have grandaunts and uncles in their 80s/90s as well…so yeah, they certainly did something right!
Kanika July 19, 2011 at 8:29 pm
Another thing that jumps out when you think about older diets is that everyone ate LOCAL. No fancy stuff, just whatever grew in your backyard and around. For that reason, I’d love to see a cross comparison of diets from different parts of India (or the world!) in the early 1900s to see which ones worked better, in terms of longevity. Of course, this would be totally disregarding genes and socioeconomic status and assuming a uniform moderately active lifestyle, but still telling…oooh I’m excited just about the prospects of what we could learn :))
anand srivastava July 20, 2011 at 3:53 am
Are you sure it was Wheat? It was predominately Jau in our areas eastern UP. But yes it is possible it was wheat in Punjab.
Kanika July 20, 2011 at 6:17 am
Anand, will have to check on this…I did sign up for finding out from the grandparents, but completely overlooked the fact that it’s going to be a tough exercise doing this over the phone from the US since they’re a bit hard of hearing 🙂 Let’s see..
Gayathri July 21, 2011 at 3:25 pm (My Note: Circadian rhythm)
Excellent Post and makes me think why didn’t we just continue to eat like our grandparents.
My grandfather is 87, healthy and very independent even today (touchwood). Leads a very disciplined life.His routine has been the same since his younger days, still wakes up at 4 am everyday(why why ??) , does his yoga 4-5 am, 5-6 am meditation.6-7 am brushing his teeth, bath, watering plants etc. 7 breakfast. He HAS to eat breakfast at 7 am everyday.11.45-12.00 Lunch and dinner at 7 PM, goes to bed at 9PM. This is his schedule, wherever he his and under any circumstances.
He eats Hindu non vegetarian diet. Not seen him eat anything in excess but will eat anything prepared. He has never had any health issues till today except cant hear as well as before.My parents seem to have more complications then him.Infact he helps my mom in lifting heavy objects around the house :-).Makes me think consistency, discipline must be the key here.
Will talk to him about his food habits growing up, I am sure it was simple, they didn’t have a lot of money.FYI he prefers to walk everywhere, distances we don’t even think is walkable. Gosh where do we have that kind of time, isn’t that our (my) excuse for everything ?
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