Healthy Kitchen - Immunity Boosters at Home

The Covid19 pandemic has left the world startled, and impacted every aspect of people's lives ranging from small to big.

When businesses worth millions suffered, the little spaces of people's happiness (their kitchens) were also impacted.

During the last summer of 2020, India faced one of the stringent lockdowns in the world. When news spread that the virus can also be present on the items we consume, people limited their resources and unleashed their creativity.

The pandemic has enlightened the true meaning of the famous quote "health is wealth" due to which items with medical properties (which were already present in most Indian households before the Covid era) strengthened their positions. These ingredients include clove, black pepper, honey, ginger etc. "Giloye" finds special mention because the news spread that it is effective in treating and preventing Covid19 and its demand surged in the markets.

Figure 1: Clove

Items such as "tulsi" were already there in Indian kitchens since Vedic times as it is worshipped for its medicinal properties. The combination of all these ingredients put together in water and the mixture boiled thoroughly (kadha) can be given "drink of the year" award in India.

Figure 2: An Instagram image of Kadha

But Indians were not only concerned with health and needed their dose of mouth-watering dishes to sail through the boring waters of the lockdown. So they tried their hand in the kitchen. "Dalgona Coffee" became the new darling of the internet as everyone was busy making and drinking it. The kitchen became the new playground for Indians for trying new and innovative dishes every day which are rather uncommon in a typical Indian household such as pancakes, Tacos, Lasagna, Cheesecakes and many other dishes. The regional food consumption also climbed depending on the geographical and climatic conditions of different regions of India.

The pandemic has also made us adopt "the new normal kitchen" and it up to us how to use the newfound cooking creativity.