Lip-Smacking at Work

Bombay Meals,set to launch in May,is an organisation that promises to prepare healthy home-cooked food that follows rules of Ayurveda while picking the day’s ingredients and in preparation techniques. Not only will they cook that lunch,they will also deliver it to your office doorstep in time for your afternoon break.

“I got the idea for Bombay Meals from my work in cardiac rehabilitation using Ayurveda,” says Dr Rohit Sane,the brain behind the operation. Sane has 34 Ayurvedic medical centres all over the state including the world’s only Ayurvedic cardiac rehabilitation center in Khopoli called Madhavbaug. “In Madhavbaug,one of the most important things was the food we serve the patients. Over time I noticed that the diet itself was producing such positive effects in patients. I began to think that if everybody follows this diet then it might help in reducing the cases of heart disease in the nation,” says Sane. “Thinking pragmatically,however,I realised that not everyone can prepare the food prescribed in the diet and may find it difficult to make it in the Ayurvedic method. I decided that I could offer a solution by making this kind of food and delivering it through an organisation,” he adds.

So what exactly goes into an Ayurvedic meal? “The difference is basically in the kind of ingredients and the preparation of the food. Initially when a customer contacts us we take down a brief medical history of them and see if they have any problems. Then we run this through a dietician and a nutritionist and give suggestions to the customers. Along with that we prepare our food with special Ayurvedic extracts,” says Sane. “Also we cook the food in oil in such a way that it doesn’t break down which is when it becomes bad for health according to Ayurveda.

The taste of the meals was a pleasant surprise too — the paneer delicious and succulent,a cauliflower vegetable was a perfect accompaniment to the rotis followed by pulao and dal. It was finished off with a light gaajar ka halwa that was neither too sweet nor too greasy. A few more rotis would have been welcome,however. Nothing exotic,but a wholesome,home-cooked meal with the masalas well reigned in.

Their website,www.BombayMeal.com,is operational for those interested. “Right now we only offer monthly services for lunch but within three months,we intend to start daily services,and then in a year,dinner services too,” Sane adds.