Snacks of India
Have you ever succeeded in eating only one or two potato chips? I certainly haven't. And so I wondered, what makes it so difficult to eat just one chip?
The answer lies in the "The Bliss Point" and "Vanishing Calories". What do these words mean? Let's find out.
Our brains love searching for salt, sugar, and fat because these were scarce in ancient times. And so, if the three ingredients occur in just the right proportion, we can't resist eating that food. This is known as "The Bliss Point".
Any food can be flavoured to hit the bliss point. But dipping a carrot in butter and sprinkling magical flavour dust on it won't keep us eating, will it? Why is that?
The answer lies in "Vanishing Calories". A potato chip or corn puff melts into nothing the moment you chew it. And they hardly take up any space in your stomach. But a carrot is solid. It contains fibre which takes up space even after you chew it. That's how our brain knows when we've eaten enough carrots. And that's also why it struggles to know when we've eaten enough chips.
Our traditional foods do hit the bliss point, but our ancestors also understood that all food must be nutritious. And so, most of our traditional snacks are a balance of four things - flavour, crunch, fat, and fibre.
Take a simple snack like bhel or jhalmuri. The puffed rice has fibre and crunch. Bhel is often flavoured with chutneys or spice mixes that provide salty, spicy, sweet, and tangy notes. Jhalmuri in Bengal is flavoured with mustard oil, which also adds fat. In other recipes, peanuts or roasted chana provide crunchy protein. This way, you can experience the bliss point of salt, fat, and sugar. But you also know when to stop eating because the base is a fibre rich grain which signals fullness.
Ask your grandparents about the snacks they ate as children. Try to analyse the snack using three simple questions:
1. Is it crunchy? What gives the crunch?
2. Is it filling? What makes you want to stop eating?
3. Is it flavourful? What gives it flavour?
Once you complete your experiment, come back to The Purple Bean. We'll talk about more wisdom in our traditional recipes.
And now, let's test your snacking skills. Try the puzzle below. You can also right click or long press the image to download and print it
Here's the solution. Check your answers when you're done and no peeking!
