WELCOME TO BITE AND BROOD

Many tropical countries, like India, Mexico, Thailand, Malaysia etc. are known to favour spicy food. This may be because of the warmer climate and proximity to the equator. Eating spicy food makes us sweat, sometimes profusely; this acts like a cooling mechanism against the heat. Chilies contain capsaicin, a natural chemical that sends a burning sensation from the nerve endings in the mouth to the brain. In Maharashtra, we call this "heat", "tikhat". In my voracious experienc

In one of my previous blogs, "Love what you do?" I wrote about how having a passion can wait until you have a steady career, a means to support yourself, and how your love for your passion would die once associated with being your primary source of income. But now I'm beginning to rethink my stance on it. It was a dull day at the office the other day, and I was talking to a colleague about how I wanted to take a hobby class a year ago, which I thought I'd do later, but now I

When someone tastes wine for the first time, especially in India, they are instantly reminded of some Ayurvedic kadha (medicinal liquid) their mom or grandma made them drink. I know I was. I thought it tasted exactly like my cough syrup. Fortunately, my college held a wine appreciation course, for us hotel management students with aspirations to become a sommelier, and guess what! I actually started appreciating wine! Then, over time, I tasted some more wines, well, a little

I lost 14 kilos over the past year, not a big deal for many, but for me it was everything! Last year, during my sabbatical, since I had absolutely nothing to do, I was forced to look at how I lived my life, and it was startling! I looked in the mirror, and someone I couldn't recognize looked back at me. It was someone dependent on (ultra-processed) food to stabilize my mood, someone who couldn't get rid of her joint pains (because of Chikungunya), someone who lay in bed/on th