CHENNAI: Speakers at the International Conference on ‘Food Habits portrayed in Tamil literature’, organised by the Tamil Department at the Stella Maris College on Friday, threw light on how ancient texts dealt with the concept of food as medicine for a healthy living.Speaking at the inaugural event, former Judge of the Supreme Court A R Lakshmanan said that saint-poet Thiruvalluvar, who allocated an entire chapter for medicine in his work, spoke exclusively about food in the chapter consisting of 10 couplets. This, he said, emphasised the fact that good food habits were a key to healthy living.Terming food adulteration a serious offence that the court has always dealt with in a fitting manner, he said conferences such as the current one were a good attempt at teaching society about good food habits contained in the traditional knowledge.Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Open University Kalyani Anbuselvam said that in these times of ‘fast food’ and faster life, there was a necessity to create awareness against high calorie food and initiate a “re-look” at the food habits.She said that while scientists were conducting advanced experiments in the filed of stem cell research to help fight diseases and improve the life expectancy, the concept of “food as medicine” in Tamil culture, in a way, explained that good food habits by itself would help increase the duration of life by helping a person stay healthy. Noted businessman Nalli Kuppusamy and Krishna Sweets head Murali also spoke during the event. The department also released a compilation of over 250 research papers that had been submitted for the conference as three different volumes on the occasion.
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