Seasonal variations in food habits reflect the natural cycle of planting, flowering and fruition. We change our food habits to suit what the soil can naturally offer. Food patterns, like everything else, are connected to the solar energy, longitude, latitude and rainfall pattern of a particular place during a particular season.

But hey, didn’t you have carrots in your salad last night…even though it is supposed to be a winter vegetable? Yes. Now everything is available, at a price of course, around the year. Is that good or bad? Well, consider this. Out-of-season vegetables are produced by artificial fertilisers and inorganic nutrients or stored for a long period using preservatives. Yes, we are living in an era of cold storage and synthetic packaging. In a supermarket, vegetables and fruits are brought at a stage when they have not grown or ripened completely. They are forced to ripen in rooms with artificial temperatures and then when they mature, they are tinned or packed. No wonder bhindi (lady’s finger) in winter tastes distinctly blander.

FluidS: A fluid-based diet is the best way to combat heat. Beverages of lime, mango, peach and watermelon contain natural sugars and fibre that help in hydrating our bodies. Vegetables like tinda may be boring, but cools well. And better boiled than fried since it retains Vitamin A.

Just drinking a lot of water is good enough. Store it in earthen pots and add fragrant touches like khus, sandal or rose, for the taste as well as medicinal value. (see box)

Minerals: Our energy levels plummet in
summers. A diet with high electrolyte content (sodium, potassium, chloride) calcium and phosphorus like mangoes, melons, bananas, limes, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce would do.