New Delhi: It was a book discussion at a home decor store, but it had the air of an adda session in a plush drawing room. It’s where celebrity nutritionist and author Rujuta Diwekar held forth on what we eat—from paneer to peas to protein.
She was in Delhi to promote her latest book, Mithahara, which has recipes for traditional Indian meals with a generous fistful of food wisdom.
“Eat local, seasonal, and traditional — that’s the only diet advice that works,” she said.
The venue wasn’t a big hall like typical book launches or talks, but the Sarita Handa store in Sultanpur. It was transformed into a drawing room, a modern-day salon, with a deep sofa, expensive carpets, embroidered cushions, and over a hundred women across age groups sitting there, eager to chat about food and diet.
“At Sarita Handa, my design philosophy has always centred on authenticity and heritage — values that instantly drew me to Rujuta’s book,” said Suparna Handa, the managing director of the home decor brand.
The over one-hour-long session had many questions from the audience. One question was about contaminated paneer, to which Diwekar said that she doesn’t know anyone younger than 40 years who would have eaten paneer in their childhood this often.
“Paneer has protein, but not as much as Instagram tells you. We’ve outsourced our wisdom to influencers. But your grandmother knew more about nutrition than most reels today,” said Diwekar. Her homegrown, distinctly Indian take on diet, food, and nutrition has made her a household name. And her fans are legion.
“We used to eat paneer when the milk used to get spoiled, and we used to curdle the milk to get paneer. But now the demand has increased, and to meet that demand, there is contamination,” said Diwekar.
The home-style setup extended to the food too — a large wooden dining table was beautifully laid out with karela chips, sabudana chaat, theplas with achaar, chakli and more. The audience loved the spread.
“The food table looks exactly like the one that I have at home. It doesn’t feel like an event but home,” said a young woman who came to attend the event. To this, Diwekar replied: “This is how we were meant to eat.”
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Instagram diet
From grandmothers to young mothers and professionals, everyone came armed with questions. One young woman asked if she should give milk to her son. The information she’s been getting on social media suggests that milk is hard to digest.
“Milk is a complete food. We are the only culture that uses milk in such diverse ways — from doodh to dahi to ghee to buttermilk. If you suddenly stop giving milk to your child because of something you saw on Instagram, you’re doing them a disservice. Social media doesn’t know your child. You do,” said Diwekar, as the hall filled with applause.
These days, people have become more diet and allergy-specific, but Diwekar has some sound advice, moored in common sense.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)