All posts by Sumana Rao

Don't worry about the people in your past; There's a reason they didn't make it to your future.
McHive from McDonald's

World’s smallest McDonald’s restaurant

Food chain giant McDonald’s recently opened a smallest restaurant for worlds’ special customer. This small McDonald’s built opposite McDonald’s restaurant called McHive is opened only for Honey Bees!

This is a worth effort from food giant as it could help in saving millions of bees across the world. Bees make earth better place with their kind action. By helping bees survive we are helping ourselves!

Little adorable and beautiful McHive is gaining lot of attention for good reasons. It is constructed in Sweden to help local wild bees thrive. This construction of McHive started to lessen the environmental impact on bees. Change in climate, use of pesticide hurting bee population. This initiation started locally is growing because many food franchisees around Sweden is joining the cause to help bees. Other McDonald’s and food franchisees in Sweden are installing beehives on their roofs too. In addition, many restaurants instead of growing just grass in the lawn, more flowering plants that attract wild bees are planted.

On World Bee Day (May 20th of every year), McDonald consulted award winning Swedish designer Nicklas Nilsson to create world’s smallest McDonald’s to welcome important guests to fly inside tiny home. The McHive comes with drive-through, ads in the windows and golden arches as it is in McDonald’s buildings. This unique initiative from McDonald’s Sweden was presented advertising agency NORDDDB in hopes of attracting thousands of buzzing customers. McHive is a miniature McDonalds’ replica. Of course there is no cash register, no French fries, no kids play, no salad. Instead, there are several rows of honeycombs and are meant for little bees.  Inside McHives there is traditional beekeeping box hives and outside look is modern-day McDonald’s restaurant. Many such McHives was auctioned to benefit Ronald McDonald House charities.

McHive from McDonald’s Sweden

As per the reports:

The McHive was sold for over $10,000 and the money was donated to a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House of Charities.

“We have a lot of really devoted franchisees who contribute to our sustainability work, and it feels good that we can use our size to amplify such a great idea as beehives on the rooftops,” Christoffer Rönnblad, marketing director for McDonald’s Sweden, said in a statement, “this miniature McDonald’s is a tribute to franchisee Christina Richter’s initiative.”

This McHive project is  part of global initiative to save honey bee population. As we know many honey bee species went under extinction due to change in environment and humans are also one of the reason for bees disappearance. Using heavy pesticides and herbicides results in loss of wildflowers that native bees need for bee hives. When bees visit such area exposed to chemicals, instead of carrying nectar, they die.

Many brands and big retailers have already acted on behalf of honey bees – Whole Foods, Burt’s Bees, cosmetic and beauty companies celebrated National Pollinators week in May month to honor bees.  

Bees make earth better place with their kind action. By helping bees survive we are helping ourselves!

See McDonald’s McHive here:

References:

https://hypebeast.com/

https://people.com

Image credit: McHive from McDonald’s Sweden

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: June 10, 2019
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Kitchen pantry zone

Kitchen pantry organization ideas

Kitchen pantry gets cluttered when we stock lot of groceries. A messy pantry can cost money as we might lose sight of expiring foods, might buy grocery that is already present, or food can get spoiled easily if not noticed. Better solution for keeping pantry organized is, divide your pantry into zones. This also helps you to reduce time.

  • Decide different zones in pantry as per your convenience and label each zone -like breakfast, lunch, dinner, cereal, condiments, spices etc.
  • Separate those food ingredients based on the categories of food that you commonly cook. For example, weekdays lunch and dinner items one side, condiments in one place, baking items in one place etc. Don’t forget to label each zone.
  • Keep kids snacks in one rack of the pantry. This could also include kids school lunch snack items too.
  • Cereals, bread, extra jam, nut butters, biscuits and other breakfast items (like waffle ingredients) can be kept together
  • Apart from edible items, you can also plan to store few utensils, lunch bags,  toothpicks, napkins, few extra forks and spoons on one shelf.
  • Baking supplies can be in one zone.
  • Ingredients that should not be exposed to air must be kept in one zone and must be stored in airtight containers.
  • Keep all dry fruits and nuts in one zone – cashew, peanut, raisin, dates, figs etc.
  • Store all types of lentils, rice, whole wheat and other types of grains in one zone.
  • Keep oil containers together in lower shelf for easy access
  • If you plan your meals ahead, then use bins to store a week worth ingredient needed for your cooking. When you are ready to cook, all items will be available in one place.
  • Keep all cans – veggie cans, soup cans etc. in one zone for easy access
  • Keep all types of flours, sugar and salt containers together in a zone.
  • On the back of the pantry door, put few hooks and hang specialty appliances such as barbecue utensils, roller, strainer etc.
  • All spices and condiments can be kept together on one shelf
  • Keep chips, tortilla chips, sun dried items that needs frying (like vadam) etc in one zone

Your kitchen needs a pantry and pantry should be kept clean and organized for easy cooking and to save time. Try to zone your pantry and organize items according to your needs. This will make your life easy and better!

Images: https://www.pexels.com/photo/aroma-aromatic-assortment-bottles-531446/ ,

Photo by form PxHere, (Free for commercial use)

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: June 7, 2019
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Spicy masala peanut

Spicy Masala Peanut

For rainy season we all need something to munch in the evening. How about traditional, homemade simple spicy masala peanut for a change? It is delicious and contains good amount of protein. Take less time to prepare- 15 to 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

  1. Raw peanut – 2 cups
  2. Chili powder – 1.5 tsp
  3. Turmeric powder– 1 tsp
  4. Pepper powder – 1 tsp
  5. Asafetida- Little
  6. Curry leaves – 2 strings
  7. Oil – 4 tsp
  8. Salt- as you need

Method:

  1. In a frying pan, dry roast peanuts on low heat for about 10 minutes.

2. Allow peanut to cool and then remove outer skin buy placing peanuts in a dry kitchen towel and rub it to separate the skin.

3. In frying pan, heat oil, add curry leaves and fry.  Let curry leaves turn crispy. Take out curry leaves from oil and keep it aside.

4. For same oil now add roasted peanuts, asafetida, chili and pepper powder followed by turmeric powder. Mix well on low heat for couple of minutes. Turn off the heat and allow peanut mix to cool.  

5. Crush crispy curry leaves using hand and add to peanut mix and mix well.

6. Serve spicy masala peanut with coffee or tea as evening snack!  For additional taste, add chopped onions, cilantro and tomato pieces while serving.

*This snack is not safe for children who suffer from nut allergy

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on:
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safe food practice guidelines

Guidelines for safe food handling

Use following WHO’s guidelines to keep your food safe and to be healthy. These guidelines are called 5 keys to safe food adopted by many countries to keep food safe from farm to consumers plate. Being consumers we should do our part to keep our food safe so that our family and near ones will have healthy system too.

The five keys for safe food handling are:

Keep clean

  1. Wash your hands before handling food and often during food preparation.
  2. Wash your hands after going to the toilet, changing the baby or being in contact with animals.
  3. Wash very clean all surfaces and equipment used for food preparation or serving.
  4. Protect kitchen areas and food from insects, pests and other animals.

Separate raw and cooked foods

  1. Separate raw meat, poultry, fish and seafood from other foods.
  2. Use separate equipment and utensils such as knives and cutting boards for handling raw foods.
  3. Store foods in covered containers to avoid contact between raw and cooked foods.

Cook thoroughly

  1. Cook food thoroughly, especially meat, poultry, eggs, fish and seafood. For meat and poultry, make sure juices are clear, not pink.
  2. Bring foods like soups and stews to boiling point.
  3. Reheat cooked food thoroughly. Bring to the boil or heat until too hot to touch. Stir while re-heating.

Keep food at safe temperatures

  1. Do not leave cooked food at room temperature for more than two hours.
  2. Do not store food too long, even in a refrigerator.
  3. Do not thaw frozen food at room temperature.
  4. Food for infants and young children and other people with low immune systems should ideally be freshly prepared and not stored at all after cooking.

Use safe water and foods

  1. Use safe water or treat it to make it safe.
  2. Choose fresh and wholesome foods.
  3. Do not use food beyond its expiry date.
  4. Use pasteurized milk or boil milk before use.
  5. Wash fruits and vegetables in safe water, especially if eaten raw.

Article published in : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov & World Health Organization (WHO)

Image credit: Photo by Joan Ho from FreeImages (Free for commercial use)

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: June 6, 2019
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Home remedies for sunburn

Home remedies for Sunburn

Changing weather pattern is creating havoc in many parts of the world. Many countries experiencing high temperature than before. Sunburn is a common condition that people can experience under hot weather.  Depending on the severity of the burn, curing sunburn takes anywhere between 3 days to couple of weeks. If you are suffering from sun blisters then it might take a week or more time.

What home remedies one can try for sunburn?

  1. Aloe vera: Aloe vera is one of the popular herb used in both traditional as well as modern medicine. It is recommended by dermatologist too. It is proved to have anti-inflammatory properties and is present in many skin cream. Either you can buy Aloe vera cream or bottle of Aloe vera extraction to apply on sunburn areas. If plant is available in your home garden, then extract and wash the gel and apply on affected areas.
  2. Yogurt: Lactic acid and probiotics present in yogurt is a good remedy for sunburn. Applying yogurt on sunburn reduces redness and inflammation. You can add little honey and turmeric into yogurt, mix well and apply.
  3. Honey: Honey is one of the best medicines is for any type of burns. Apply or dab honey on sunburn areas and leave it for few hours. You will see changes with soothing affect of honey on the skin. Honey is good remedy for sun blisters.
  4. Cucumber: Cut cucumber and place it on sunburn area. You can also prepare cucumber extract and mix with oatmeal, Aloe vera gel and hyaluronic acid and apply on the affected areas to soothe and nourish the skin.
  5. Damp cool cloth: Use a damp cloth compress or place a cold pack on small sun burn. Do not place them more than 10-15 minutes.
  6. Cold milk compress: This is one the oldest home remedy for sunburn. Prepare a cold milk compress and place on sunburn areas. Repeat this couple of times a day to get rid of burning sensation.
  7. Oatmeal: Soak 2 cups of oat meal in 4 cups water. You can increase the amount of oatmeal and water as you require. After half an hour, squeeze the milky water from oatmeal and collect it in a container. While having bath add the milky water to bucket or put in tub water and soak the body for half an hour or so.
  8. Chamomile bath: Fill a small cloth bag with dried chamomile herb. Hang the cloth bag in the water faucet or water flow and fill the tub. If you don’t have tub, fill bucket and take bath.
  9. Coconut oil: Coconut oil is also one of the oldest recommended home remedy. When farmers an labors work in the field they get lot of sunburn. After returning home one remedy that soothes their skin is coconut oil application on entire body. This treatment not only reduces their skin irritation, also reduces body pain.
  10. Apply oil: In fact, olive oil, sesame oil are also good for skin. Both these two oils help in soothing sunburn. Apply on affected area using a cotton ball and leave it for sometime.
  11. Keep yourself hydrated: Drinking plenty of water or fruit juices helps the body to keep hydrated. Dehydrated body can get more sunburn. Eating high water content fruits like watermelon, cucumber, strawberries, muskmelon, nectarines, tomatoes, pear, honeydew melon – can keep us hydrated for long time too.

Sunburn is preventable as long as one takes proper precaution. Wearing proper clothes, carrying umbrella, applying proper sun blocking cream can help. Severe sunburns can cause blisters and dis-figuration. Use proper remedy that suits your skin and enjoy the summer!

Image credit; Photo by Pavel L on Unsplash

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: June 5, 2019
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The BHOG project for food safety

The BHOG project for food safety

In India temples all over the country distribute prasad to devotees. It is a religious practice and in many temples, it also helps those who need food.

Prasad is the food that was offered to God is distributed to devotees either in small quantity or as lunch or dinner.

There are temples who distribute prasad as midday free meal to local schools and students get benefit from nutritious food. Every day an estimated 300 million people visit places of worship in India and receive food.

Famous temples like Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Dharmasthala Manjunatha Swamy temple, ISKON, Sri Venkateshwara temple, Horanadu Annapurneshwari temple, Golden temple of Amritsar (known for world famous langar), Somanth temple, Meenakshi temple Udupi Sri Krishna temple – to name a few, examples who provide free food to devotees every day.  Few temples also sell prasad in the form of laddu or other form sweets.

Do you know? Distributing food in a temple or any other places of worship like church, Gurdwara, mosque requires license from FSSAI?  And it is a must that worship places also follow food safety guidelines.

When the food is prepared in larger quantity, hygiene in every aspect of food preparation should also be taken care. No doubt this is a huge challenge. Last year FSSAI visited several places of worship (in Thane) to check on food safety. The reasons for the visit was since people in large numbers visit worship places and these are high risk prone spots for spread of illness caused due to food contamination.

Food safety regulator has asked the states to roll out a project to ensure that devotees were served safe prasad, Safe and Nutritious Food (SNF) at places of worship. For this reason, FSSAI has come up with project namely “BHOG = Blissful Hygienic Offering to God”.

BHOG is part of FSSAI’s safe and nutritious food bouquet of initiatives that was initiated in 2016 and workshops were conducted for all those who handle prasad including vendors. FSSAI CEO Pawan Agarwal issued an order on January 29th    regarding the BHOG project that should be implemented in every state of India. This nationwide project is supported by Association of Food Scientists & Technologist India (AFSTI). A short film on project BHOG was released recently.

As per Agarwal, “This directive is to ensure proper regulatory compliance as it is important to improve the level of food safety and hygiene in their (places of worship) premises,”. The campaign BHOG conducts training on food safety management systems, utilization of leftover flowers, fruits and vegetables, product handling and safety, quality and hygiene standards, vendor training programs etc. Recently people from Places of Worship (PoW) – Chintapurni Shakti peeth, Meenakshi Temple in Tamil Nadu and Somnath in Gujarat were sent for this training.

The second workshop on BHOG which took place in Delhi recently to review the progress of the states and to cover all worship places under this project. A guidance manual was released for self-implementation of food safety in their premises. Encouraging point is, representatives from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat shared their experience of improvement in quality of prasad after BHOG implementation at PoW.

Visit for BHOG document: http://snfportal.in/snf/data/bhog/BHOGGuidanceDocument.pdf

References:

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: June 4, 2019
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World food safety day

World Food Safety Day June 7th

On its 73rd session of the United Nations General assembly in New York, UN declared June 7th is world food safety day. Food is the only medicine that we should be consuming to have healthy body and mind. If we consume safe and good food, our health improves, and our body will face any conditions.

This decision of declaring June 7th as World Food Safety Day is because of the initiative taken by Awilo Ochieng Pernet in 2015, when she was heading Codex Alimentarius commission or CAC. In association with Food and Agriculture organization of United Nations (FAO) and WHO Costa Rica lead the negotiations on this decision. On June 7th United Nations General Assembly’s resolution invites all parties involved including -authorities, industry, consumers, international organizations, NGOs and academia to take part in promoting food safety at all levels.

“World Food Safety Day will be a chance for everyone to take a moment to think about something we often take for granted: Food safety” : Codex secretary Tom Helandt.

What is Codex Alimentarius?

The Codex Alimentarius is a set of standards, guidelines and codes of practice adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). Since 1963, its mission has been to develop a standardized food code to protect the health of all consumers across the world and ensure fair practices in the international food trade. Switzerland is a founding member of the Codex.

Food safety is nothing but absence of hazards in foods that includes chemicals, microbes or any physical in nature that are often invisible to our eyes including pesticide, bacteria, viruses, residues etc. Food safety assures us that whatever the food that we are going to consume at every stage of food chain is safe to consume and does not cause harm to body. It is safety of food from farm to production to harvest, processing, storage, distribution, preparation and consumption.

Unsafe food and food borne illness is the biggest threat for humans and animals. It is huge threat for economy as it dis- proportionally impacts vulnerable people including children and women. It also affects those who are affected by war zones, conflicts and migrants in a negative way.  In developed and developing country nearly three million people die due to waterborne and food borne illness. According to WHO, contaminated food alone is responsible for more than 200 diseases ranging from diarrhea to cancer in humans.  Reasons for such deaths is, food is the primary source of our body energy, health and well-being. Without checking what we eat and being ignorant are many times the reason for food borne illness. Taking proper precautions and understanding the regulations and standards that is imposed by food safety officials is one way to control food borne illness and to have safe food.

World food safety day is bringing sustainable development goals to prevent, detect and manage foodborne illness. Safe food boosts not just economy also, agriculture, market access, increases tourism and sustainable development in the developing countries.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO) is the only organization overseeing food safety along all aspects of food chain. All stages of food chain from farm to consumption is monitored closely by this International organization. World Health Organization supports global food safety and consumers health. WHO oversees relationships with public health sector.

While these two organizations playing their role, there is role that consumers must play too. Consumers should purchase and eat what is safe for them and their family.  Food helps us to stay alive. Having safe food is essential for good health and longer life

What are the 5 Keys for safe food consumption?

The core messages of the Five Keys to Safer Food are:

1.       keep clean

2.       separate raw and cooked

3.       cook thoroughly

4.       keep food at safe temperatures

5.       use safe water and raw materials

By adopting these five food handling practices most of the food borne diseases can be prevented. Eat safe and be safe!

References:

https://www.un.org/

https://www.paho.org

http://safeconsume.eu/

Image credit: Image by RitaE from Pixabay  (Free for commercial use)

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: June 3, 2019
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Plant based food in Disney

Eating Plant based food in Disney just got easier

Disney is a favorite place not just for kids even for adults. Visiting Disney theme park is a dream of many. People who visit Disney look forward for all those fun filled shows, games, magical kingdom’s charm, and the FOOD! Until recently, Disney had very few options for plant based foods for vegans and vegetarians inside its theme park. Well…,not anymore!

Good news for vegans and vegetarians is they no need to go out or carry their food to Disney world anymore! At least in Magical Kingdom. Eating plant-based food in Walt Disney World is just got easier in Orlando Florida.  Recently Disney released their Disney Plant Based Cuisine guide. It means at select full service dining locations in the Magical Kingdom which is the main attraction of Disney.

Disney resorts in recent years have been continuously updating their menus to meet an extensive variety of diary needs as well as plant based nutritious foods. To meet the needs, in resorts they have also added vegetarian and vegan options. Vegan Disney World and Happiest Vegan on Earth are two highly recommended resources for plant-based foods. This makes it easy for those who don’t eat animal byproduct or meat. It is a big treat for animal lovers as Disney previously has not been friendly (with menu) and menu approach was not straightforward.

Walt Disney world released the pamphlet that display vegan, vegetarian friendly food sources. The plant-based cuisine guide gives an insight into what is both vegan and vegetarian quick and full services locations available in the theme park.

WDW News Today

‏@WDWNT Follow @WDWNT

http://wdwnt.news/19041009

The pamphlet is available to pick up for free on site and visitors can chose veggie friendly food items when visiting the fun park. Details also include symbol to indicate the items is free from dairy, egg, animal meat and even honey. Disney World’s this big step is already attracting those who depend on plant-based food. Reason is, in most Disney parks, one can see mostly nonvegetarian foods, ice-cream, cake and popcorn along with juices, soda etc. Adding plant based foods in different locations makes it easy for those who love to eat inside the theme park while enjoying their visit.

These locations are available in six sections – one for each area of the park.  Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Liberty square, Main street USA and Tomorrowland. Fantasyland has most options with eight sources and 28 different items! Some of the popular plant-based food items in these restaurants to chose are: Perkins Thai noodles, vegetable quiche, Mermaid Doughnut, Mickey pretzels, popcorn, pineapple dole whip, strawberry smoothie etc.

All popular theme parks hopefully will adopt Disney’s positive move. Disney’s move is bringing more people to Disney world as the number of vegans and vegetarians increasing in both Canada, USA and other parts of the world from where Disney gets visitors from. Hopefully Disney’s this change soon enters other theme parks including Animal Kingdom. Who wants to eat meat when you are surrounded by animals?

References:

https://thetakeout.com/

https://www.foodandwine.com

https://news.yahoo.com

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: May 30, 2019
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