Ayurveda: Natural Everyday Cooking
Filed Under Natural Cooking |
Do you wish you had more energy? Better digestion? Have you tried to “eat better” but weren’t sure what was right for your body? Are you looking for a diet program that is right for you?
Maybe Ayurveda will resonate with you. During my nutrition studies, I learned a bit about this Indian healing system. Life and practice have taken me along other paths over the last eight years as a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and natural cooking instructor, so I was tickled to learn more when I came across an Ayurvedic cooking class at Radha Yoga & Eatery.
What is Ayurveda?
Ayurveda is an ancient healing system from India, a sister science to yoga that dates back 4,000 or 5,000 years. Ayurvedic doctors observe the effects of our food and lifestyle choices; some choices have immediate effects while others take time to balance the body. Sure, Ayurveda has rules about who should eat what when, but it doesn’t have to be intimidating. Anyone can incorporate Ayurvedic cooking and eating into their life.
The class venue
Radha Yoga & Eatery is a combination yoga studio and vegan restaurant with consciously created food as well as local art and live music events. I had enjoyed the venue before, with its hardwood floors and natural light streaming in. The space is very calm, restful, and conducive to learning, appreciating, and being attentive. The very nature of this space and the whole food quality of their ingredients drew me to this inspirational class that rekindled the spark to explore Ayurveda. The organic food, gorgeous space, and enthusiastic teaching made it a Sunday afternoon to remember.
An inspirational teacher
I had participated in one other class at Radha before with the same teacher, Jill Boadway. Jill is one of Radha’s founding chefs; she is currently concentrating on growing their catering branch while writing a holistic cookbook (stay tuned for details).
Jill’s whole foods expertise extends into Ayurvedic cuisine, which she presented in such a way as to make it accessible and not intimidating. She learned Ayurveda while cooking at various yoga ashrams and an Ayurvedic spa. Jill spent some time in India and is also a yoga teacher as well as a fabulous chef. Her unique experience allowed her to work with Ayurvedic doctors who advised her about food choices for the people she was cooking for.
Everyday Ayurveda
Jill entitled the class “Everyday Ayurveda,” which is the perfect way to describe her approach. The key is all about choosing your ingredients wisely for you or the lucky people you’re cooking for.
The biggest eye-opener for me was that you don’t have to eat Indian food to be eating Ayurvedically! This made immediate sense to me in the same way that macrobiotic food doesn’t have to be Japanese (a common misconception—macrobiotic means “big life,” which sums up the true approach to that way of eating). Ayurveda is a system that guides our food choices; once we choose the best health-supportive foods for us, we can turn them into any dish we like. (This is the same foundational idea of the Main Course® from the School of Natural Cookery where I studied.)
All about energy
In Ayurveda, we are all made of three dynamic energies or doshas—Vata, Pitta, and Kapha—with one usually being dominant. The doshas arise from the five elements in Nature (air, ether, fire, water, and earth).
In order to balance our energies, Ayurveda would have us choose foods that calm the dominant dosha and strengthen the other doshas. This allows us to maximize digestion, energy, temperament, physical constitution, and overall health.
Jill had us complete a couple of checklists that would give us an idea of our particular dominant doshas before the class began. This thoughtful step made the class personal and allowed us to think practically and ask pertinent questions thoughout the three hours of demonstrations and discussion. She then showed us ways of adapting recipes so that we can all enjoy our food choices in the healthiest ways possible for us.
Note: I am not an expert on Ayurveda and I don’t want to lead you astray by discussing particular foods for particular doshas. For more information on doshas and suitable food choices, please refer to a good book about Ayurveda. Jill recommended a few of her favorites that provide clear guidance about food choices for each dosha as well as background information about Ayurveda. See below for a recommended reading list. There’s also lots of information to get you started out there on the Web.
A little bit of everything
Jill’s choice of recipes reflected the concept of freedom within Ayurveda; she created some Indian dishes, some dishes with Asian influence, and some that were just yummy with no obvious ethnic influence.
She even suggested we all indulge in the dessert she did for us (even though some of us, especially those with excess Kapha, didn’t really need dessert). She explained that it could be seen as a prasad, a sweet ritual in which we recognize and give thanks to the divine within us and the sweetness in our lives. Who could argue with that!
Jill incorporated both raw and cooked foods and discussed additional raw options. Her recipes were very adaptable and she was clear about the possibility of substituting different grains, beans, vegetables, oils, or spices to change them up (again, much like we discuss in the Main Course®, which uses the Language of Cooking™) while at the same time specifying which of these food choices would work best for which dosha.
Radha is a vegan restaurant, so the recipes she showed us were free of animal products, but she was also clear that Ayurveda doesn’t limit you to plant foods. Dairy, meat, fish, honey, and other animal products can have a place in your life depending on your dosha and your own personal choices.
Everything counts
In addition to the information about Ayurveda, Jill shared some inspiring tips for food presentation. Beauty really does make a difference in the energetic experience of eating; the love that goes into the food you prepare really does count.
As a home cook whose forte is not presentation, I appreciated her ideas. They were friendly, simple little ideas like cutting red bell peppers into triangle pieces just because they’re fun and pretty. She also demonstrated how to cut fennel and how to use lemongrass because some people might be intimidated by new ingredients. Much appreciated by many in the class, I’m sure!
Keep exploring!
Everyday Ayurveda was certainly an introductory level class that inspired me to want to know more. Jill suggested going to an Ayurvedic doctor for a consultation to find out for sure which dosha is dominant (the checklists were just an overview to give us a general sense) and to get personalized food and lifestyle suggestions. She said she might offer more Ayurvedic classes at Radha in the future, one for each dosha if there is enough interest. Yes, please!
I suspect the meals at Radha might be prepared with Ayurveda in mind, so I would like to dine there more often. At this point Radha is only open for dining from Thursday–Sunday. I hope they’re considering opening through the rest of the week! Since it’s just a 20-minute walk from home for me, I know I’d be visiting often through the week to take in the energy, the peace, and the vibrant whole and raw foods they have to offer.
I hope you enjoy your exploration of Ayurveda. Having prepared a couple of Ayurvedic meals since the class, I know I will! I’m keen to dive into some of the books and keep rolling with this new-to-me approach to eating well. Check out my next blog for one of Jill’s recipes.
Rebecca
Recommended reading:
Frawley, David. Yoga & Ayurveda. Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Press, 1999.
Morningstar, Amadea and Urmila Desai. The Ayurvedic Cookbook: A Personalized Guide to Good Nutrition and Health. Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Press, 1990.
Tiwari, Maya. Ayurveda: A Life of Balance. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, 1994.
