Sustainable Palate

Sustainable Palate is an unusual cooking book, a collection of recipes for preparing traditional vegetables, grains and millets grown in and around Auroville.

Bhuvana Sudharsan, who authored the book, recounts how the people of Tamil Nadu prepared these traditional vegetables, such as the many different gourds, parts of the banana tree, and the great variety of greens, but that the younger generation is increasingly becoming unfamiliar with them. Local communities need to be encouraged to retain their connection to their traditional food and culture, she writes. In cooking lessons at the Life Education Centre, she showed how each of the dishes has to be prepared – some best in stone or clay pots – and how the spices have to be tempered in hot oil before being added to the dish. The result, she writes, is that the authentic taste of vegetables is retained and the dish doesn’t cause heaviness after eating.

Published by the Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research, and available at the White Seagull bookshop at the Visitors’ Centre. Price in India Rs 280.