THE INDIAN FOOD CLASSIFICATION

THE CLASSIFICATION OF FOOD

Food materials were classified into various vargas, which correspond fairly closely to the divisions in use today; sukhadhanya (cereals), samidhanya (pulses), shakna (vegetables), phala (fruit), supyam (spices), payovarga (milk products), mamsavarga (animal meats) and madhyavarga (alcoholic bevera-ges).
However, in ritual terms a different concept prevailed. Rice, wheat, barley and lentils were all raised with the help of the plough, and were therefore term-ed anna or kristapachya. Food materials that grew without cultivation (akrista-pachya) like wild grains, vegetables, and fruit, were broadly termed phala and fell into a different category.
At certain auspicious ceremonies, or for men who had taken sanyas, only the latter category of foods was permitted. Thus the starchy yam or water-chestnut (singhada) would qualify not as anna but as phala, permitted during a fast. So would flowers (pushpa), roots (mula), bulbo-us tubers (kanda), leaves (patra), fruits (themselves also called phala) and some pods or legumes (shimbi). Lentils (masur), as we have seen, qualify as anna, not so chana (the chickpea), which is not classed as an auspicious gra-in. Milk and ghee are ritually pure, especially auspicious and therefore extrem-ely flexible in use as food ingredients. Ghee is quite different ritually from a cooking oil: frying in the former constitutes a superior ritual act, not compar-able to frying in vegetable oil. An outcome of these ritual distinctions is the two major classes into which cooked foods fall, namely kaccha and pucca.

FOOD EATEN ACCORDING TO THE FOUR SEASONS - INDIA

FOOD EATEN ACCORDING TO THE FOUR SEASONS - Part I
In ancient India, it was believed that food to be eaten should be chosen according to the four main seasons of the country, particularly in the areas where seasonal variations in the climate are much more extreme, e.g. North of India. Even now foods are chosen on the basis of ancient Hindu food beliefs.

1. During Spring : Heavy and cold foods are avoided in this season and pungent foods preferred. During Vasant Ritu i.e. mid March to mid May, heavy, sour, oily and sweet foods are to be avoided. In the past barley, wheat, flesh of stag and hare, quails and partridges and a certain kind of liquor were advised. The sleep during the day was also avoided.

2. During Summer Months : Ancient Indian doctors like "Sushrutha" and "Charka" suggested that cold and sweet foods should be the choice of the people because the strength and digestive fire are weak during summer period. With the advent of Grishma, mid May to mid July, cold, oily and fluid foods such cold preparations of barley with milk and sugar, milk itself, rice, ghee and deer meat were the proper foods in the past. Salty, sour and pungent foods were taboo. Liquor was also to be avoided.