It is so common for people to think that a good diet is based simply in a proportioned and complete dish, containing animal protein and vegetables, which contributes for sure with muscle potential, supplying all they need according to their physical requirements along the day... Some other, more open and conventional, think that good eating means enjoying tasteful dishes and well-cooked food which contains each group of essentials.

The truth is right in the middle. That is why I think that Indians have the answer. It has a sort of mystery, because it is beyond executing and combining different preparations with different and complementary tastes. It is about knowing our body and its needs, using taste stimulation to self-acknowledge.

I am not an Indian, as you already know, so I don’t own this art of healing our mind and body with this millenary wisdom. However I have adapted its main principle in an essential way in order to find my own vision. What I have discovered is that we have the tendency to ingest mostly sweet and salty food, a bit less acid and spicy, and almost non bitter or astringent.

It is not bad at all! What happens is that sweet and salty are two tastes which connects in a particular way for each one of us, but we all feed the tendency to repeat them, so we end up abusing and losing the opportunity to identify the natural flavor of what we eat, which importance lies on that characterization, that bond between our gastronomic experience and the natural qualities of food. It is similar to the contrast between a raw and a cooked meal. So, the goal is creating a balance by choosing the tastes that are potential to emphasize in every dish, but making use of spices also, because smell provides also an experience of taste.

I had great expectations about this meal. Though I find attractive a sweetened a milky drink of oats, as every mortal, I finished very pleased after my breakfast. However, grated cocoa provides a very strong bitter taste, so we must add it with moderation so it doesn’t neutralize the other flavors. About oat, you should cook and rest for a couple of hours and maybe refrigerate. The fact is that eat it hot and add a fruit lowers that sensation of freshness of a breakfast with all these amazing elements. Last I would say that cashew nuts were an awesome idea; they actually didn’t provide too much flavor but it felt awesome to scrunch. Chewing each bite long enough is a very important action: it stimulates peristalsis and also gives you a more pleasant gastronomic experience while it allows you to appreciate all the different textures and essences combined in your meal.

Some eastern cultures make special emphasis in the concept of attachment. Pleasure can surge in our lives as a learned experience, and for this reason we might tend to repeat it only by impulse. It is, in that sense, our due to mold our own pleasantness, and the mechanism must centers in exploring attractive alternatives, but also letting go the common choices, which seem to be easier to pick and might be substituted by new and better stuff. The hidden satisfaction of eating is also in the possibility of playing with the qualities of food, including its appearance and what it inspires us to do with it.