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Ayurveda Cooking course

The cooking course will take place the first two week-ends of July:
July 4th-5th, July 11th-12th.
AYURVEDA
Cookery and Nutrition Course

Six tastes originate from the five elements, transmitting their properties: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent

All persons need some of each of the six tastes in their daily diet.
However, depending on one’s constitution, health condition, and the season, they will take varying amounts of the tastes to balance their dosha.

The key is to have a moderate amount of each taste.

Taste is considered therapeutic for several reasons.
The Sanskrit word for taste is “rasa”.
It means delight or essence, both of which are healing.

A SURPRISING TRIP INTO SOFISTICATED TASTES AND HEALTHY BUT SPICY LIVING

EACH INDIVIDUAL HAS THE POWER OF SELFHEALING

Introduction to the fundamentals of Ayurveda
Qualtity of food
Creation of the Universe and the 6 Tastes
The 6 tastes and the 3 doshas
Vata dosha
Pitta dosha
Kapha dosha
Individual constitution and nutrition
The spices (part 1 and 2) …..

…….and we shall taste a lot of delicious dishes prepared according to Ayurvedic principles. Some indian vegetarian dishes like Kichari, Pakora, Kadi, not missing some italian fusion touch

Claudia Brebeck lives and works since 13 years in Florence. She has been working for more than 10 years at the Istituto Italiano di Ayurveda, where she studied Ayurvedic coking and Ayurvedic massage with Prof. Bhagwan Dash and Dr. Lalitesh Kashyap. Since 8 years she’s teaching Ayurvedic cooking and Ayurvedic Massage
in Italy, Germay, France and Belgiom

Ayurveda food – nectar for life

The most important item in my kitchen is the pleasure of cooking, the beautiful feeling of happiness in  performing the preparations with a caring attitude for those I’m cooking for. I also feel a great respect and gratitude towards the food items available, which are the most important support of life. Those who cook should always love life to add quality to the nourishment of the body, both on the material and spiritual level. In fact food is also endowed of a spiritual dimension that influences our attitude towards life, feeling and emotions.

Please do not forget that ayurveda asks the cooks to keep in mind the different constitutions and the liking and disliking of the fellow guests. Furthermore, a pinch of ginger added to the preparations can give relief to those who may have a cold, some little asafoetida added to cabbages or legumes will help those suffering from air formation. Season is also a very important item to keep in view. In winter the body needs more nutrition and food and spices heavier with heating qualities. In summer, food should be lighter and have cooling qualities. A course should never be too hot or too cold, nor too light or too heavy.

Always prepare fresh vegetables that grow in your country, avoiding exotic vegetables or fruits from far away countries, or treated with chemicals.  Don’t forget to always use some spices. Most of the food is bland, inert and very difficult to digest, causing the vitiation of the doshas. In Europe we hardly use any spice, only some little black pepper and chillies. If you want to make a healthy and tasty food, be brave, learn how to add some turmeric, cumin or coriander seeds to your course preparations. Once you master those spices try, also some fenugreek, asafoetida and cardamom to create very unique flavours.

Spices added to the food make it delicious and enhance digestion. In Europe we also use a lot of fresh herbs, like parsley, basil, dill,  coriander (plenty available also in the asian food shops). Different aromas in your food, make it very palatable, healthy and promote secretions.  To keep good health, every meal should have a combination of all six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent.  A meal should contain food which is mainly composed of sweet taste ( food ingredients like rice or pasta), then sour and salty (better use rock-salt), less of pungent, bitter (like leafy vegetables) and astringent (legumes). Food should be unctuous, so add ghee or extra vergin olive oil.

It is necessary to avoid overeating. A healthy person should not deny any kind of food in  proper quantity, and if something is  heavy to digest, like fried potatoes, adding some bitter vegetables will help in promoting the correct functioning of liver. If food is hot, add some cooling spices like coriander seeds or fresh coriander-leaf.  Palatable food does not have to be neglected even when it is not good for your constitution, if you learn the secrets of transforming them in beneficial to your constitution.

Food should be served when it is ready, right after cooking. When this is not possible, compromise yourself by adding to your raw salad or fruits some spices to promote a better digestion.

Avoid contradictory food in the same meal, like fish or meat cooked with milk or milk-products, hot drinks with honey in it, milk prepared with salty preparations. These will create ama or toxins, which prevent a good digestion and  the accumulation of these toxins can lead to disease.

Eat only cooked warm food (apart from salad or fruit) In fact the digestion itself is a form of cooking (agni=fire), and you can help this process starting a sort of pre-digestion, exposing the food to the heat of your stove.  Cooking is essential for a good digestion, but do not overcook!

Not only cooking and the quality of your food are important but also eating in an appropriate way is as much important. You should eat with appetite, only after having digested the previous meal, far away from television or emotional discussions. You should not eat to much or too little. One third of the stomach should be filled with food, one third should be filled with liquid and one third should be left empty.

Try to eat in fixed hours, and keep to these.

When you eat take at least 10 minutes for yourself every day, not diverting your mind from the holy activity of eating. Say a little prayer before taking your food, and show your gratitude for the privilege to eat this meal today.