Sometimes the inquiry into origins of food can prove out to be illuminating. Consider the non-cereal Rajgira: it looks like poppy seeds (khus-khus) and is often used as substitute for cereals like wheat and rice during religious fasting days in western India. Rajgira is venerated for its ritual purity -- seems as Indian as Indian can be. But few people know of its exotic origins; fewer still...

A fitness fanatic friend of ours slipped and badly injured his hip and wrists during the recent rains. His `huff and puff’ routine was in jeopardy. To get his daily workout, he even tried walking. But it wasn’t good enough. When a team from the University of Alberta compared a 10,000-step exercise programme with a more traditional fitness regime of moderate intensity, the researchers found...

Among the many things Moghuls brought to India is a fondness for meat roasted on spits. Of course Indians used to eat roasted meat earlier. But the Central Asians’ patronage made kababs ubiquitous on the Indian subcontinent. The culinary form reached its zenith in states such as Lucknow and Hyderabad renowned for their epicurean rulers. For instance, the `melt-in-your-mouth’ giloti kabab was...