The benefit of eating food in Banana Leaf | Kerala Traditional Food | EPISODE # 5

In this post you can see some custom that were followed by keralites earlier. Our former generation had a clear concept about How to eat food, When to eat food and What to eat. Let us see how it was.

First of all, they knew that food should be eaten only when they are hungry. The mind of the person who is eating the food and serving the food should be quiet and glad. Food was eaten by sitting on the floor because, if food is eaten by sitting on floor, then too much food cannot be eaten. This position will help the food to reach stomach through alimentary canal correctly. In other words, sitting on floor and eating food is an exercise too.

Earlier, banana leaves were commonly used to eat food instead of plates. There are lots of benefits for this. After putting the leaf, salt, sour and chilly is served first. These three awakens the digestive acids to digest the food that you are going to eat further. After that ginger curry and lemon pickle is served. This also helps in digestion. Then other curries, after that hot rice is served. When hot rice is put on banana leaf it gets sweltered. The rice absorbs the chlorophyll in that leaf. Not only that, a flavor is produced at that time, it awakens the six tastes of that person.

These entire times one should sit thankfully in front of food. When thanking the one who cultivated, one will remember about that plant and how it was cultivated. Secondly, when thanking the chef, how the food was prepared will come to the mind. Thirdly, when thanking the one who serves, we can see the food in front. Next we thank God, and then the environment to eat food, the condition and the situation comes to mind. “Thus, we thought about the food for four times before eating it. Now our body is completely fit to digest the food that we are going to eat because, by this time, all the acids were produced to digest the food. That is why it is said that ‘don’t talk while eating’.  Don’t eat food by talking or by watching television. Body will react according to the taxing or feisty scene that we see. This will affect the body harmfully.

Mind and food was the base for everything for our former generation. They lived according to that. But today it is not like that. Everything has changed to poisonous and adulterated.

Most of the readers might disagree this. You can disagree and say that this is not correct, if no one in your family is affected by the diseases mentioned below;

Diabetes, Blood Pressure, Cholesterol, Cancer, Ulcer, Heart diseases, Piles

If anyone in your family is suffering from any of these diseases mentioned above, please read this and share with others.