How Food Affects Your Brain

Eating is a Necessity but Cooking is an Art - Aathira James

There is nothing more satisfying than a good home cooked meal. Sure, hogging on junk food or eating out might sound so much easier, but as a pretty good cook (title given by my mom!) myself I can guarantee that having the food I cooked is a much more rewarding experience and more so, when I share it with the people I love.

When I was little, or as many of you might know, the time when saying ‘wazaaaa!’ was cool, I used to watch my mother cook with great fascination. The way the colours mixed and changed as the spices were added, the sound made when the pakoras fried in the simmering oil, the aroma that filled the house, the anticipation before the first bite, all were just so fascinating. It was as if my mother was Da Vinci and the pan was her canvas.

I considered cooking as more of an art than a job. It too required skill, creativity and talent. Cooking for others and myself gave me a sense of peace, I could forget the world while I cooked and this was more rewarding than any take-outs or in ‘n’ outs. The smiles on the faces of the people I cooked for makes it all the more rewarding.

Cooking with your family or friends brings you closer together and you also get to know their likes and dislikes.

Cooking, be it instant noodles or a gourmet meal, should be something everyone should try and have fun with. Considering it a duty or a job rather than an art takes the fun out of it.


So always consider the pros and have fun with whatever you do be it cooking or writing an article for your best friend’s blog.

I would like to end with a quote by Craig Claiborne, “Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love.”

- Aathira Lizbeth James

Colossal wastage of food in Indian weddings

This is one of the most anticipated topic, every CBSE student is familiar with this one, but anyways I am going to write about it!

Indian weddings are known for various things such as the ethnic music, irrelevant dancing, annoying guests, that one neighbor who is jealous of your entire family and lots more, but one common characteristic is cooking excessive food, more than what is required!

Here are some statistics that you are free to skip past if you have no interest -

A survey shows that annually, Bangalore alone wastes 943 tonnes of quality food during weddings. "This is enough to feed 2.6 crore people a normal Indian meal," a study by a team of 10 professors from the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bangalore, has concluded.

The team, under the guidance of UAS vice-chancellor K Narayana Gowda, surveyed 75 of Bangalore's 531 marriage halls over a period of six months.



"About 84,960 marriages are held at 531 kalyana mantapas (marriage halls) in Bangalore every year. About 943 tonnes of high-calorie quality food is wasted in these halls annually. At an average cost of Rs 40 per meal, the total food wastage in the city is estimated at Rs 339 crore," the study said.



On an average, 1,000 people attend a wedding where two meals are served - lunch at the wedding and dinner for reception, besides breakfast.



"About 10-20 items are served at a wedding ceremony. The maximum items served include 100 grams each of soup and juice, followed by 50 grams each of puri and pulao," the survey stated. It also concluded that rice and cereals were on top, making for 35% of the wastage.



"On an average, a typical wedding meal is very rich in energy. Each meal may have 1,239 calories, enough to meet an entire day's requirement of a child! The wastage per meal amounted to 20% at 246 calories," said Gowda.

Making a huge issue of these things like CBSE enforcing its will on students did cause some awareness.

Recently a Delhi couple tried to pull out a major trick, zero-food wastage marriage, only those who organised this knows how successful this ended up.

With malnutrition as a major problem around the world, including India, wasting foods is not only unethical but it shows how much of jerk you are to other people who is not economically strong as you.

To make sure you do not commit these mistakes: here are few tips to avoid food wastage.

1) Having an elaborate menu

2) Making RSVP a must (this is commonly ignored in India)

3) Making sure that the prepared food is good

4) Having a child-friendly menu to satisfy the taste buds of young toddlers (doesn't mean you should forget about teenagers xD)

5) Maintaining hygiene standards

6) Using the leftovers (Many non-profit NGO's work on redistribution of these leftover to those who are not privileged. Contacting these NGO's prior to wedding, will help you not only to redistribute but also ensures hygiene standards)

With all these information, do right by the society.

Until next time
- Abubakr Sajith

Din Tai Fung - Akhil Krishna

So this week , I went on a journey in search of new cuisines and flavours. Atlast,  this search landed me in wonderful and exquisite  restaurant called Din Tai Fung. It is a gourmet restaurant located in Mall Of Emirates, which deals mainly with cooking of authentic taiwanese food. The first thing you sense when you are about to reach Din Tai Fung is the sweet yet spicy aroma of the various dishes being made. This joint is mainly famous for it's Xiao Ling Bao (Soup Dumplings).

The dumplings arrive in a steaming wooden casket made from bamboo. Then there are Wontons. Wontons are basically dumpling dough filled with schezwan vegetables and your preferred meat, tossed in a special sauce. If you are not full by now, don't worry. There is more to come.

The dishes what a person HAVE to try next in Din Tai Fung are The Beef Fried Rice(Or any meat of your preference) and The Chicken Chowmein(Again, any meat of your preference). The fried rice itself, is like butter melting in the mouth. The beef is very soft yet crispy, giving it an amazing texture and feel. And the chowmein...... No words to describe the taste.

So here ended my journey of discovery. Overall, Din Tai Fung is not very expensive, but it is more expensive than your average fast food spot. It's a great restaurant with good decor and amazing food. All in all, it is a restaurant to be experienced and enjoyed.

Until next time, ✌out.
Akhil Krishna 

Food - Sruthi Chakra

Hey I am Sruthi, another food lover ️ I have always been a foodie since my childhood, but on the other side I am a fitness freak too so I always like to keep a Balance in eating healthy and junk food. Though I look really thin, I eat a lot (my metabolism is just a blessing!). 


I like to eat deserts. I simply love deserts ️ not the extremely sweet ones though. To all the people are reading this blog I would like to convey that always have a Balance while eating junk food because too much of it can be toxic but don't restrain yourself from eating them once in a while because they are so delicious. Stay healthy and fit. Keep loving food!

With love,
Sruthi Chakra