Milk in Nepal and India: the difference!

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 I have observed that whenever milk ferments when I am in India, the paneer or cottage cheese does not come out easily. Even if I boil it and add lime juice to it, the cheese formed is quite little and more powdery than cheesy.  But when the same happens in Nepal, the cheese formation is immediate, dense and cheesy. I do not have to do more efforts to get cottage cheese out of the milk in Nepal. What is the reason? I checked internet and found some factors that can affect the quality and amount of cheese  1. Freedom from pathogenic bacteria - Good cheese forms of milk is free from pathogenic bacteria. Differences between Nepali vs Indian panipuri  2. Different milk quality with different amounts of fats and proteins  3. Ultra-pasteurization can destroy vital enzymes and bacteria that are required for cheese formation  4. If temperature of milk is less when it ferments, cheese formation will be less.  5. If milk is rancid, it means it's fats are also br...
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Food companies and their misleading labels

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Food is for nutrition and to provide the body with energy and vital nutrients. Names of foods help us to know what the likely ingredients might be in it. But often, we notice that food names are misleading. They can fool a person into buying only to realize that it did not meet their expectations and imagination.

For instance, take the example of samosa. An ideal samosa is refined wheat flour (maida) wrap with mashed potatoes and boiled peas inside. And when we say paneer samosa (cottage cheese stuffed fried dumplings), the picture that comes to our mind is of a wrap of refined wheat flour dough with paneer inside. But to your disappointment, you will find that these samosas are nothing but the normal samosas with mashed potatoes with or without boiled peas and just 1 small piece of cottage cheese at one corner!!!

If we talk about rusks, most of these are made of refined wheat flour or maida which is not healthy. Maida is stripped of all the vital nutrients such as fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They are empty calories. And when companies such as Kitty (in Uttarakhand) market Suji (semolina) rusk, you think that it is made of suji (wholly or atleast 50% of the mixture). But alas! This is not so. It is tactics to fool people. Actually these so-called suji rusks have only 4% suji in them while the rest is refined wheat flour!


Same issue occurs with Atta (whole wheat flour) bread. In this, the amount of atta ranges from 32-63% and the rest is maida and other ingredients that go into the making of the bread. In brown bread, the amount of whole wheat flour is less than 32% and the rest is maida (refined wheat flour) and other ingredients. Hence, brown bread may be better than white bread but is still inferior to atta bread. Moreover, brown bread has added caramel in it for the color. So though brown bread looks brown, it is not whole wheat bread. Hence, opt for atta bread over brown bread. But most grocery shops, bakeries, and supermarkets sell more brown bread than atta bread since people are ignorant about the difference between the two. And they do not want to know it or do not have time to know it. Sad.

Read here: An Apple a day keeps the doctor away! Does it?

It is vital as a Woke consumer to always check the ingredients on the food products before purchase. This will help you to know which products are genuine and which companies are fooling you. FDA needs to check on these fake and misleading labels but it does not. So the responsibility rests on the consumers to pick up the best of the lot.

If the label list is long, it means that the product is ultra-processed or highly processed. Better to not buy that product.  You are paying for everything you buy. And it is for your nutrition. So why compromise on it?

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