Slaves of food
WE love our food in Pakistan.In fact we love it so much, that nothing has the power to kill our appetite.
I clearly remember my first day in Nishtar Medical College.The first thing we were exposed to were human cadavers.
The smell of Formalin and the expressionless faces of dead people made food the last thing on our minds.
However after a couple of interactions with the deceased, we became so comfortable, that we would occasionally take a sandwich to the dissection hall while we observed human bodies being opened up.
I suppose people who enjoyed their meal, in the company of Ashraf the dead Paparh seller, felt the same way.
In the historic fashion of the Notorious Romanian warlord Vlad the Impaler, who enjoyed his meals while viewing his enemies being impaled on spears, everyone in the wedding ceremony in Kasur must have felt like a tyrant king that day.
Food is an integral part of Pakistani culture.We encircle our weddings and funerals around it.We have feasts when we are born, and feasts when we die.
We do politics on food, it is our bribe, our way to earn respect, show our hospitality, piety and philanthropy.
Our food habits make us sick, more than 15% of our adult population is diabetic, and this is only the tip of the iceberg.
We have a diet rich in carbohydrates and fats, with not enough proteins and micronutrients (minerals and vitamins).
Despite our obsession with food, we have failed to decipher the enigma of a balanced diet. I have seen the self-proclaimed educated people of this country drooling over food in pharma-sponsored events and Bar Council electoral campaigns.
The sin of gluttony is evident in our existence.Food wastage is another issue that needs to be discussed here.
I used to work in an urban slum in Islamabad a few years ago.I saw a homeless man, who had nothing to eat.Some kind hearted individual gave him some food.
He had his fill, lit up a cigarette, threw the ash in the remaining food and left it on the pavement.We see the same attitude in all gatherings where food is ample.
The Quran says “and eat and drink be not extravagant; surely [Allah] does not love the extravagant.”
Lastly the kind of food we offer to our children is deplorable.The variety of cheap snacks available in every nook and corner of the country are often main energy sources of our malnourished children.
You are what you eat.We feed our children on high sugar foods, which satiates caloric requirement and kills their appetite for real food.
According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan stands at 18% for early initiation of breastfeeding and only 37.7% of mothers practice exclusive breastfeeding for six months.
Statistics suggest that 44 per cent of Pakistani children are stunted (lower height for age, having poor cognition and other development milestones.
—The writer is Assistant Professor Public Health, Islamabad Medical and Dental College.
