TRADITIONAL VS INNOVATIVE FOOD DISHES AND MEALS-What is the difference?

Many people; men and women shudder when they have to cook food dishes or meals for themselves, family, or a large gathering. It is understood if one gets a feeling of fear when there is a large gathering for serving. But why get the fear when it is either your immediate family or yourself for whom you have to cook? 

Traditional foods	Innovative foods
Run in families and cultures	Are new and created at an individual level
Time-consuming usually	Quick to make
Tasty	Can be made tasty with creative thinking
Might be healthy or unhealthy	Can be made healthier with one’s own innovative ideas
Hygienic	Hygienic
Usually lacks in variety	Can add to variety
Could be boring to cook	Every cook time is an adventure and adds spice to living and food
Difficult to cook	Easy to cook
Reluctance of most people especially men to cook it	All people would be willing to cook it
Best reserved for festive times and for homemakers.	Any time food recipes. Best for bachelors, working women, and husbands.
Can be called family foods	Can be called bachelor foods or easy-to-cook foods
Fixed recipes. Hence it can be boring to make for people who love challenges.	Variable recipes and great scope for experimentation.
Does not need nutrition knowledge	Best to have added nutrition knowledge for that healthy and well-balanced recipes every time.

 

Traditional food dishes and the reason for fear for cooking 

This fear may partly be due to the fact that people have seen mothers slough in the kitchen day and late-night to cook food for their children and family. But all the foods that a mother cooks for her family is traditional. These mostly take long hours of cooking. They are not necessarily healthy foods though they may be tasty and hygienic. I say so since many cultural foods are laced with a lot of fat and such food imbalances that they may not always be healthy in the long run. Such foods are present in the culture since time immemorial and their recipes have been passed down the generations usually from the mother to her daughter or daughter-in-law.

Traditional meal [Source: Culture trip]

But the life of today is hectic especially the urban city lives. But even in rural areas, the business of lives has increased. Hence, making such labour-intensive and time-consuming food items daily may not be feasible. So what is the alternative? You guessed it right. One has to innovate and cook foods that are quick to make and at the same time well-balanced in nutrients. 

Innovative food dishes

One can put their creativity to the maximum use in trying to make foods as varied and healthy as possible. Innovative foods have several advantages-they are quick and easy to make, are usually healthy, and can fill hunger and satiety both. Besides, people of all genders and ages can make it easily with the minimum of resources at hand. 

Innovative egg recipe [Source: NDTV]

First and foremost, you should know that daily food has to be balanced in carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, and vitamins. Starchy and pulpy foods are rich in carbohydrates, eggs, pulses, and non-vegetarian food items are protein-rich and oils and fats are fatty foods. Most of the minerals and vitamins come from green leaves and fruits. Hence with this background, try to integrate and incorporate these items into your daily meals. You can add a dash of green vegetables to the food or have a sidedish of salads for that dose of vitamins and minerals in your main meals. 

The percentage of carbohydrates in the daily food should be 45-65% of the daily calories. Fats should constitute 20-35% of daily caloric intake and proteins should be 20-30% of daily calories. Sprouts have a higher content of essential vitamins such as riboflavin, B12, folate, vitamin K, vitamin C and the like.

Avoid highly processed foods such as refined flour items. Use atta ow whole wheat flour in place of maida or refined flour. 

Newer ready-to-eat foods and modern life

Modern technology also has aided to make life easy at the cooking front. There are ready-made noodles, pasta, bread, rotis, and the like available that could be incorporated in the daily foods but with a proper balance. A lot of variety is available there and could be used to make the food varied and tasty. Noodles cooking can be made healthy by adding vegetables, eggs, meat etc to it. Besides, bread could be eaten with vegetables, pulse or chicken curries, peanut butter, sweetened condensed milk, or eggs. Pasta can be boiled and after draining the water vegetables, peanuts, mayonnaise or curd could be added for the extra taste. There is no dearth of ideas that could enrich your food and your life. So go ahead and start it for that easy and enjoyable independent life!!!

Innovative food and presentation [Source: Pinterest]

Rice or other crackers or pickles can be added for that extra tinge of enjoyment to the meals! These can also be used by bachelors and husbands or working women. Reserve the traditional cooking for special occasions only! 

 

Remember to preserve the fun of cooking, not more than half-an-hour to one hour of the day should be spent on cooking one meal. This will help the person cooking the meal as well others who would also be encouraged to do it seeing that it is not all that hard and time-consuming.