South Asian cuisine

And so this cookbook is kind of a look behind the curtain.

I also think one of the things that's missing from the cookbook zeitgeist, at least, you know, cookbooks that most people read around here is some robust spice cookery and South Asian food at a higher level.

And I wanted to share that.

Sounds good to me.

That's actually an idea that we kind of have in the back pocket for maybe in the future.

I think, uh, like our cocktail and mocktail program is really good and strong.

I think another couple of years and it'll be at a very high level where we can maybe even consider putting out like a South Asian cocktails cookbook type of thing.

So we'll think about it.

One little white wine.

We are definitely, one of the main kind of visions of the owners is to make wine that really balances well with Southeast, South Asian cuisine.

She's from Laos.

She immigrated here and she's a big foodie.

I don't know.

I might disagree.

And it's not one dimensional when you say all the flavor in South Asian cooking, it's multiple flavors and different profiles.

So different wines will work with different

But anyway, that curry, the only time I really hear people refer to it as curry is fried pakoras in a yogurt sauce.

The pakora is, you know, an appetizer kind of dish, but they say people make pakora, like often potato, onion pakora, and then they make a sauce, which is very, very thick yogurt sauce, And it's very, very delicious.

And the way that the South Asians eat is they eat with a piece of roti.

It's like instead of a fork, they use the roti to eat the food, you know, in their hand.

Yeah.

well.

And that's what I wanted to ask you, whether it's, as you alluded to earlier, perhaps more education about South Asian food or a higher spice tolerance.

Have you created any dishes for this market in particular?

Yeah, a few.

I shouldn't put one ahead of the other.

This is one of the best food cities in the world and one of the best Indian food cities in the world.

Wow, this is what I was going to ask you, Chet, because Dubai has a very large and extremely knowledgeable South Asian dining community.

So it's going to be interesting in terms of opening here.

Varish Nagarian is the chief ghee officer for OG Ghee at Varish Foods.

They are on a mission to educate Canadians on the hidden side of South Asian cuisine.

4,000 years-

Yep

So, uh, what are you doing out there?

Yeah, um, I mean, I, I, I moved out there when I was in the building materials industry, and when COVID happened, I kind of lost my position in that industry and kind of didn't wanna go back.

I started a very, you know, uh, deep culturally minded South Asian meal kit, which sold a little bit of, uh, ghee on the side as like a little bit of an upgrade to the meal kits that we would sell.

Okay.

We are talking mental health, emotional health, and, of course, physical health.

And I hope that by listening to this show that you might learn something, that you might leave... a little more informed a little bit more inspired a little bit more uplifted that's what this show is all about so welcome to what the health with me clara hermit and it's time for us to get into the show and for me to introduce our first guest so for many people of south asian heritage cooking is a way of reconnecting to their roots and celebrating a sense of community But South Asians are at a significantly higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease and cardiovascular problems more so than many other ethnic groups.

And that can fuel misconceptions about how healthy traditional diets really are.

But does keeping fit and eating nutritious food really mean giving up the dishes that we grew up with? Well, today I'm joined by Dr.

It is a great way to start the week.

You're right.

So let's talk a little bit about this because As I said in the introduction there, we are talking about people of South Asian heritage.

Dr. Saima, how important is cooking traditional food to the South Asian diaspora and to their identity as well, to your identity?