We’ve often heard that prevention is better than cure. This means we should focus on preventing or avoiding the problem rather than on curing it later on. The way to do that is through quality food. It has also been said that what we eat, we become, and we definitely can’t reach a good level of fitness with unnatural and processed foods. Eating healthy is important, but eating it in the right way and at the right moment is even more important.
With changing times, we have reached a new level of expertise in the food industry where we can grow and prepare food in ways other than how nature intended. Unfortunately, these recent changes have also ushered in a lot of fads rather than sustainable, nutritious diets. For example, crash diets, low carb, high fat, and so on are all the result unethical profiting that has grown in this industry. It seems that labels with ‘diet’ and ‘sugar-free’ have completely taken over the values of raw eating.
When we focus on eating based on trends and choose food that’s wrapped in plastic packets and boxes, the fitness we accumulate is lower than rawer alternatives and only remains for the day. When we eat real food that our ancestors shared and passed over to us, on the other hand, we nurture our bodies for life. As we discussed above, it’s important to know how and when to eat your food. To this end, let’s get into what the correct answer to this is, as well as into some benefits of seasonal eating to see the whole picture.
Seasonal Eating: Ayurveda and Modern Science
For sustainable development, it’s important to comprehend both ancient and modern thoughts. Ayurveda is the ultimate guide for sane living and correct eating, and strongly recommends the idea of seasonal eating. As it happens to be, modern science supports it as well with proven facts and long-term studies.
Ritucharya, or following rules or regimens according to the seasons, is the term derived from Ayurveda that stresses the concept of seasonal eating. The prime principle of the Ayurvedic system is to prevent diseases by changing diet practices in response to changes in climatic conditions. For example, to eat food with warm properties in the winter and cool ones in the summer to regulate our body temperature according to the seasons.
Supporting this ancient knowledge, researchers have also found that vegetables grown in their particular season are more abundant in nutrients as compared to their stored variants. When you eat seasonally, you eat fresh and gain nutrients at their peak.
The Benefits of Seasonal Eating
As we move deeper into our discussion, let’s begin by covering the benefits of seasonal eating:
Better Taste- Taste is like the soul of food; nobody wants to eat tasteless food. Seasonal food is harvested fresh and offers the best kind of taste, which is the reason seasonal food is the first choice of many people.
More Nutrients- Fresh and seasonal food equate to higher nutritional values. For example, oranges are the highest in vitamin C during the winter.
Cost-Effective- One of the best parts of seasonal food is that they’re cheaper when they’re in season than otherwise. In other words, seasonal food means best quality food at cost-effective prices.
Supports for Local Farmers- Local and small farmers don’t usually have access to storage facilities, which is why they sell fresh produce.
Fresh Food vs. Packaged Food
Now that we know that seasonal food is fresh food, let’s move onto the differences between fresh and packaged food. Packaged food is just something that kills your hunger without adding much in terms of nutrition. Why do we say that? Because processed and preserved foods are not real foods; they’re foods with MANY chemicals and additives that are only there to make them last longer or mask their taste. Any food that your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize is not something you should put in your body. Our ancestors had local supplies and fresh produce, and they ate real, raw foods. This is still the key to ethical and sane eating.
Seasonal Food at OMKITCHEN
When you visit a restaurant and order a large pizza with a fancy description, it arrives in a well-plated manner. You’ll then eat it with utter interest and praise its taste. It may also cost you a few bucks and you may consider it a ‘value for money’ because it pleased your taste buds for a while. At a deeper level, though, it’s not good. You may not care that it’s low in nutrition because it tastes good, but its long-stored toppings and sauces with added preservative and flavours are all things that will end up hurting you in the future. Breaking the dilemma, we at OMKITCHEN focus on preparing healthy seasonal food with the utmost care to taste and nutrition. We know the value of fresh, and that’s why we source seasonal. Why and how? Let’s take a look.
Why Seasonal?
At OMKITCHEN, we choose seasonal food for a variety of reasons:
Organic food is chemical-free food
OMKITCHEN is a completely organic meal company with a prime focus on consumer health and safety. Our food is chemical-free and local. We source our vegetables, spices, and oils from trusted local organic farmers. Vegetable batches are also sent to labs every quarter for quality check. At the end of the day, we always follow a very strict farmer and vendor selection process to ensure we always have chemical-free produce.
Seasonal supply is a fresh supply
Organic food means real food with nothing artificial. This makes organic food easily perishable, which is why use fresh, seasonal produce and recommend to consume it within a week.
Seasonal food is quality food
Seasonal produce is best in flavours, taste, and nutrition. This makes it easier for us to create all the delicious recipes that lead to quality meals. At the end of the day, we don’t let our supplies sit and lose their benefits and instead choose to create quality food with seasonal benefits.
How Do We Supply and Deliver?
Authentic and certified sources
With our reasons for choosing seasonal food covered, let’s move onto the supplying and delivering process. For starters, we use authentic and certified sources for organic and residue-free ingredients that come from more than 500 small and marginal farms, self-help groups, and vendors that all fulfil our quality testing criteria. After getting these ingredients delivered, we send batches to labs for a quality check. Once the quality criteria is fulfilled, we keep that particular vendor in our vendors' list. We also make sure that all fruits and vegetables are consumed within a week to ensure freshness and high nutrition.
Seasonal menu
After the arrival of ingredients, our experienced chefs create a seasonal menu for a week that includes the best flavours of the season (we currently can’t stop drooling over sarso ka saag and Makki ki roti this winter). From ladyfingers in the summer to carrots, peas, and methi in winters, fresh ingredients are perfect for quality flavours.
Fresh preparation, hygiene and timely delivery
We are also a social kitchen with the end-consumer’s health in mind. We believe in quality rather than easy and cost-cutting cheap tricks. That's why we prepare fresh, seasonal organic meals and deliver them in a timely manner. You place your order, we craft your meals with love and the utmost care, and you get to enjoy all of it. It’s also important to note that high standards of cleanliness are integral to us. Our kitchen staff members wear head caps and nitrile gloves at all times, raw produce is washed with RO water in washers made of food-grade 304 stainless steel, and we clean, chop, and all of our fruits and vegetables to make sure that they meet the high standards of hygiene. To top it off, our expert delivery agents deliver the food in eco-friendly glass containers instead of harmful plastic packs with fancy labels on them.
Seasonal tuck-shop
Apart from fresh organic meals, OMKITCHEN also takes pride in hosting an OMKITCHEN tuck-shop that offers organic, seasonal fruits and vegetables with other products like teas, spices, and honey.
Final Thoughts
Gajar ka halwa and saag taste best in winters, cucumbers are the freshest in summer, and we love biting on parwal and karela during the Indian monsoon. Seasonal, fresh and authentic vegetables throughout the year are best, and this is the secret of OMKITCHEN's values. We cook intending to slash the monotony of adulterated and chemically-treated food in the market. We serve for preparedness and the prevention of dangerous diseases with food-safety and taste. For this reason, we buy seasonal and deliver fresh.
Whether you’re looking for home-style organic food tiffin service or corporate catering service at your workplace, we always serve you the best experience through our seasonal and fresh produce cooked into lip-smacking meals just what you like!
