Food
Food is very important to me, in the same way that doing something multiple times a day and it being essential to life would be.
Cooking
Shameless plug: @laria.soi
Rice, pasta, potato, bread—my carbohydrate ranking defines me. That also means that my cooking skill disproportionately favours rice-based cuisines, je., curries, occasionally dipping into pasta sauces.
My favourite protein is fish, something Bangladeshi cuisine is famous for. For environmental reasons, I try to stay away from food with a large carbon footprint, a notoriously challenging metric to measure. Cattle products top that list, so beef and lamb are minimal in my diet.
I am a fan of offals, and my favourite dish is rui machher tel—fat, liver, and other innards of the rohu fish cooked in a spicy jhol. A close second is khashir kolija—goat lungs and liver.
Here is a read-only link to my recipe "arsenal."
Health
This year I read Chris van Jaulken's Ultra-Processed People, a move that has been widely criticised by all who know me, purely because I have managed to slip that into every conversation since.
My key takeaways from the book:
- We think of food, and its nutrition, as just the sum of its carbohydrate, protein, and fibre contents, plus minerals and vitamins. In actuality, millions of years of evolution have developed a system where our body considers everything—the texture, smell, taste, etc.—in preparation for the food. Food that mimics other food, for example, how emulsifiers mimic fat, trick our body.
- Clara Davis's 1939 experiment showed evidence that the body instinctively knows what to eat. Ultra processed food, or Group 4 foods of the NOVA classification, ruins that instinct. Imagine the body has an internal thermostat that knows how to regulate our food cravings. UPFs essentially destroy that thermostat.
Community
Growing up in Bangladesh, I have seen how food can be the bedrock of a community, even a society. As friends, we gathered around street food vendors to chat. Celebrating something - a job, a newborn, good grades - involved sending sweets to your family, friends, and neighbours. When someone dies, it is traditional to not light flames—even a kitchen stove—for a period of 40 days. During this period, relatives, friends, and neighbours provide food to the bereaved family.