Busy modern lives and the stresses of working and raising a family can create a situation where we are too busy, always ‘doing’, never ‘being’ and we can become distant from our inner selves and our vast knowledge, turning to quick fixes for our solutions rather than intuition.
I was interested in Matt Davsons’ new book: Cooking With AP. This cookbook, with a difference, not only provides more than 200 easy-to-follow recipes but also goes into the ‘yoga’ of food. Ancient Ayurvedic principles to help us restore and maintain our body harmony, a quiz to discover your own dosha balance, and once you know this – you can eat for your own constitution. When your dosha is unbalanced, it can cause a disposition to particular physical and mental disorders. There are three doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha and these biological energies must be balanced for Ayurvedic health to exist.
It is a lot to take in, but this area interests me, so I have been studying Cooking With Love to deepen my knowledge of AAD principles. The ethos behind this book is that the way you cook the food as well as the ingredients and the method makes a massive difference in how the food turns out. Author Keith cooks at and oversees the kitchens of the Dru Yoga and Wellbeing Centres in the UK and abroad, and through the centres’ retreats, he noticed that food plays such a vital part in people’s experience whilst on retreat. For some people, it is even the main thing! So he created this book to share the recipes that his chefs use, so we can create the same dishes that the centre serves, at home for ourselves.
The book’s holistic philosophy attracted me first, then the recipes. Here are a few of the recipes that you can find within the book:
- Fresh soups such as:
- Vegetable Minestrone
- Butternut Squash Soup
- Clean eating favourites:
- Ayurvedic Carrot Salad
- Quinoa Tabbouleh
- Exotic dishes:
- Mojo Rojo
- Twists on healthy everyday foods:
- Mix Bean Chilli
- Baked Sweet Potato,
- Spinach Paneer
- Sesame Broccoli
Matt Says
“Simply that the way you cook and eat is just as important as the food itself.”
“How do you make sense of all the dietary advice we receive, that is often contradictory? Ayurveda offers a logical way forward. This traditional natural healing system from India focuses on diet, lifestyle, yoga, and natural therapies, and like a compass it can give you the direction you need to take.”
In Ayurveda, there are three constitution types or ‘doshas’. Finding your unique constitution gives you a way of developing an effective food plan to bring you an abundance of health and vitality.
Ayurveda also recognises that our needs vary with our age, changing seasons and time of day. It is the original personalised medicine using everyday foods, herbs and spices in a therapeutic way which suits us.
“Health starts in your kitchen and Ayurveda helps you understand which foods and combinations will work best.”
‘Cooking with Love’ takes you on a journey through the history of food—the origins of ingredients, their fascinating stories and legends.
You will learn about nutrition and the ‘yoga’ of food.
Ancient Ayurvedic principles are explained in a refreshing and entertaining way. You can enjoy over 200 easy-to-follow recipes, as well as tips, techniques and knowledge that will change the way you think about food forever.
