A scientist by training, I still cannot help but realise the wisdom in many long-held practices – especially when I see the negative effects of certain modern ones. One of these is widely prevalent practice of packaging and processing foods.

Perhaps it is a sign of the commercially-driven times that everything appears to be a tad harmful or artificial. But when it comes to the world of food, I do have some real worries.

My concerns stem from the increasing prevalence of packaged and processed foods in our daily lives.

Last week’s column on probiotics stirred a discussion among friends about obtaining probiotics off a supermarket shelf versus our traditional methods of making dahi. Coincidentally, I came across a fascinating story that will shed some light on the issue and ring many a bell among my mother’s generation.

Dahi has been a staple item in the Indian kitchen for centuries. And preserving some curd as starter culture for the next batch to be set had been a customary practice in nearly every Indian home.

This is why every home had its own uniquely flavoured curd, which is hard to replicate. The lady of the house realised the value of this diversity and on occasion sought to enrich her starter culture by borrowing some from a neighbour to mix with her own.

The story, set in pre-partition India, underlines the importance of the starter culture and the diversity of bacteria and thereby the taste.

A young bride from Lahore was to be married to a boy living in Delhi. Tradition required that the starter culture used in the bride’s maternal home be given as part of dowry. Since transportation was going to take a few days, the bride’s mother dipped a muslin cloth in a bowl of fresh curd to capture the bacteria. The cloth was then dried and carefully wrapped in a sheet of paper — to be unpacked when the bride reached Delhi.

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