There was a time when food was not just something we ate. It was an emotion. A roti made by your mother, a bowl of dal cooked slowly on a gas stove, or the smell of freshly steamed rice could instantly make you feel at home. But somewhere along the way, we stopped trusting our own food. Suddenly, the same roti that once symbolised comfort has become something people fear. ‘Too many carbs,’ they say. Rice, once served proudly at every meal, is now accused of causing weight gain. Even ghee, the golden touch of every Indian kitchen, has been labelled unhealthy by some.
It’s strange, isn’t it? The food that nourished generations, built strong bodies, and sustained entire communities is now being treated like the villain of our health story.
How social media made us doubt our own food
It all started subtly. A few years ago, fitness influencers began promoting ‘clean eating.’Soon, everyone was talking about low-carb diets, keto plans, and intermittent fasting. What began as fitness advice slowly turned into fear-mongering. Every day, someone online tells us to stop eating wheat, avoid rice, and replace ghee with olive oil.
And because it comes from people who look fit and confident, we believe them. We forget that their lives, routines, and even their genes are different from ours. We start to see our own food, the one that kept our ancestors strong as inferior.
We are told to eat quinoa instead of millets, avocado instead of coconut, and oats instead of poha. It sounds modern, maybe even aspirational. But it also distances us from who we are.
The lost wisdom of our plates
Before social media and fitness apps, our diet followed nature’s rhythm. In the scorching summer, we ate curd and rice to stay cool. In winter, we turned to ghee, bajra, and sesame to keep warm. Each region of India had its own version of balance and it worked beautifully.
Our ancestors didn’t count calories. They listened to their bodies. They believed in variety, moderation, and timing. Their meals were rich in fibre, healthy fats, and plant-based protein long before these became fancy buzzwords.
But today, we are so caught up in new diet trends that we have forgotten this deep-rooted wisdom. We replace freshly cooked food with packaged ‘protein bars.’ We skip traditional meals for salads that leave us hungry in an hour. We are, in many ways, becoming strangers to our own kitchens.
The rise of food guilt
One of the saddest side effects of this trend is food guilt. Many people now feel guilty for eating what they love. Someone eats a paratha and immediately worries about calories. A family dinner becomes a mental calculation of carbs and fats. Food, which was once a source of joy and bonding, has become a source of anxiety.
But the truth is, it’s not the roti or rice that’s making us unhealthy, it’s our lifestyle. We sit more, move less, and sleep poorly. We eat late at night and snack without thinking. The problem lies in our habits, not in our food heritage.
Science is coming full circle
Interestingly, modern nutrition science is beginning to rediscover what our grandmothers already knew. Studies now show that whole grains like wheat, rice, and millets are excellent sources of energy and fibre. Ghee, once dismissed as fattening, is being recognised for its healthy fats and vitamins. Fermented foods like idli, dosa, and curd are praised for improving gut health.
The world is finally acknowledging what we had in our kitchens all along. Ironically, while we run after imported superfoods, the rest of the world is studying our traditional recipes to understand why they work.
Reclaiming our food identity
It’s time to stop apologising for our food and start taking pride in it. Eating a roti doesn’t make you unhealthy. What matters is how much you eat, how active you are, and how you balance your meals. There is no shame in enjoying rice with dal, or using ghee on your chapati. These foods have sustained farmers, athletes, soldiers, and workers for centuries.
Maybe it’s time we went back to our roots literally and culturally. To eat local, seasonal, and simple. To eat what our bodies recognise, not what trends dictate.
Food should make us feel happy, not guilty. It should connect us to our families and memories, not make us question our choices. When we cook with care, eat mindfully, and move our bodies, our traditional food does exactly what it was meant to nourish us.
The real villain was never the plate
The real problem was never the roti or rice. It was our growing distance from real food. It was the belief that imported or expensive means better. It was the confusion caused by too much advice and too little understanding.
We turned our plate into a villain when we forgot to listen to our own wisdom.
But it’s not too late to change that. Let’s fill our plates with gratitude again for the food that shaped us, sustained us, and still has the power to heal us. Because when we learn to respect our food, we also learn to respect ourselves.
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