A few days ago, I was giving dietary counselling to a patient having hormonal issues. ‘Apart from limiting the intake of cereals and sugar, cut down on potatoes,’ I instructed her in a dictatorial tone (as a senior doctor, I usually get away with it). Surprise, surprise- instead of nodding in the affirmative, she started smiling. ‘Doc, I stay in a hostel and most of the vegetarian dishes served in the hostel mess have potato in them. Have you ever heard of aloo rajmah or aloo daal! We eat them regularly.’ ‘If that is the scenario, prepare your own meals,’ I retorted. ‘No time,’ was the instantaneous reply. I had no answer to this googly.
The conversation rattled my grey matter. Ensuring preponderance of the potato as an ingredient in various dishes is a well-known machination of the hostel mess contractors. Obviously, this is done to reduce input costs (could be with the tacit acquiescence of college authorities)- consideration for the health of the students is not in fashion. The government makes sure that the prices of the gol matol tuber are kept in check. The authorities may build lot of flyovers, roads and hospitals but on the voting day, the fate of the sarkaar may be decided by the prices of potato, tomato and onion. In future, we might have separate ministries for these three veggies.
I have been addicted to aloo paratha and french fries for long but walked out on them two years ago. While I am ordering food, the salesperson at the food joint often gives me an offer- If I you add Coke, I will make it a ‘meal’ and that way you can have french fries for free. ‘No. Thanks,’ is my standard reply. Then, I get a look of bewilderment- as if I suffer from a rare mental affliction characterized by just one symptom- refusal to avail of the offer of free french fries.
What makes the potato tick? It is as malleable as a turncoat politician. It can join soups, salads, curries, snacks, pulao, parathas and non-veg dishes. And when it comes out after a rendezvous with hot oil, the crisp crust and the soft inside induces love at first bite. If potatoes become unavailable, most of our populace will go into clinical depression. Imagine life without vada pav, masala dosa, amritsari kulcha, samosa, aloo tikki, french fries, aloo chaat, aloo bhujia and others. Go to any dhaba or restaurant and ask the waiter about the veggies being served there. Aloo gobhi, aloo mutter, dum aloo, aloo shimla mirch, jeera aloo ……. the waiter will list in one breath, reminding one of Shanker Mahadevan’s song, ‘Breathless’.
Nutritionists and dieticians have mixed feelings about potatoes because of their high carbohydrate content and high glycaemic index. Love affair with potatoes can make life as complicated as an inter-caste love affair in rural Haryana. One gets predisposed to diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome. It is okay to take one medium potato a day and that too if cooked in a healthy way. However, the tubers are often married to refined flour and trans fats. The favourite indulgence of a couch potato is potato chips, which have around thirty three percent fat content.
The authorities are unlikely to put curbs on sugar, trans fats and potato- even liquor and tobacco have been spared, to a large extent. So, one should act on a personal level by taming one’s taste buds!