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THE FOOD CLUB

I've just returned from the holiday of a lifetime in Ananda in the Himalayas "" a one-of-a-kind destination spa, which has just been voted Best Spa in the World by Conde Nast Traveller magazine. So forgive me while I ramble on about healthy eating this week!

It's not as if healthy eating is an unknown quantity. Ten years ago, oily parathas, dal into which half a packet of butter had been added and mutton kormas with an inch of ghee were considered premium foods.

Try serving them to your guests today, and see the look of horror on their faces. Today, every upmarket bakery has a range of low-calorie souffles and mousses, and many mithai shops are working on sugarless confections with varying degrees of success.

There are a couple of routes to the same destination. Conventional Western wisdom has it that fats, carbohydrates and proteins should be consumed in a certain proportion.

Ayurveda says the same thing, albeit in different words: eat foods that are sour, salty, bitter, sweet, astringent and pungent. In doing so, claims chef Sumit Kumar of Ananda, you will eat a naturally balanced diet.

He strongly refutes the claim that carbohydrates are public enemy number one. The problem, according to him, is processed carbs, not the food group per se, which is vital for a healthy body.

After eating my way through the menu of Ananda during the time I was there, I do have one observation to make: some cuisines are more naturally suited to healthy eating than others.

Oriental cuisines, especially Chinese, Japanese and Korean, have a preponderance of fresh green vegetables that are cooked minimally so that their textures are retained. Contrast it to our bhartas where vegetables need to be cooked so that they lose every vestige of texture.

Chef Kumar has visited the kitchens of Michel Gerard at Eugenie le Bains, where he's seen the Great Man cooking with butter and cream, albeit in reduced quantities. My initial reaction was that of horror.

"That's cheating," I immediately thought. But chef Kumar did point out that spa cuisine "" a concept that's just beginning to take shape worldwide "" does not exist in a void, but ought to be a permanent part of a lifestyle. And if healthy food tastes so awful that it has no takers, then it defeats the very purpose.

All the Indian food at Ananda is cooked in pure ghee, as opposed to oil. This is completely in consonance with the tenets of Ayurveda, which goes on to list mustard oil as the most healthy oil. Flaxseed and ramdana (amaranth) are two crops that have long dropped out of favour in the country of their origin, though science has shown that they are packed with nutrition.

So far, Ananda is the only place where spa food is being done with any kind of research at all.

The other destination spas that serve food do so strictly according to Ayurvedic principles with no regard to taste. With the proliferation of spas, however, in time, a cuisine will probably emerge that is both healthy and delicious.