Mohana Gill declares healthy eating rules are not meant to be followed to the T: “Mix and match fruits and vegetables that grab your fancy – and what are easily available. It is like a painting. I am providing the canvas, paints and brush. You can create your own work of art.”
Kuala Lumpur-based Mohana’s mantra is: “If eating fruits and vegetables is done with passion, it is bound to be good!” Following this maximum, the younger-than-her 70+ author-cum-propagator of a healthy lifestyle attributes her, and her family’s well being to their predominant vegetarian diet comprising bulk of fruits and vegetables.“I consciously started eating and feeding my family healthy food after my son Sanjeev, 42, was born. An oncologist, he turned vegetarian at 24. Then arrived Anil, 40, who turned vegetarian five years ago, and Rakesh, 39, is showing clear inclinations towards the vegetarian trend worldwide. As babies they were never given bottled baby food off supermarket shelves. Each meal was home cooked. As they grew older I involved them in the kitchen for a weekly baking day.
They participated enthusiastically, and this perhaps generated their interest in nourishing food,” the mother recollects. Mohana’s passion transformed into two attractive, easy-to-follow cook books: Fruitastica! and Vegemania! Both acquired for the author the prestigious Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. While Fruitastica! was proclaimed Best Single Subject Cookbook; Best Health and Nutrition Cookbook and recipient of the Special Jury Award for Best in the World in 2006, Vegemania! picked up Best Vegetarian Book in the World in 2007. Upon presenting the awards, founder and president Edouard Cointreau (from the legendary Cointreau and Remy Martin family) said, “They recognise and honour the best writers and professionals beyond just one book. These awards are for special persons! They become part of a very special selected group of international talented culinary professionals.” While Fruitastica! offers unusual dishes such as peach soup, strawberries with almond dumplings, jackfruit biryani and baked curried fruit, Vegemania! goes global with Japanese nori rolls, Burmese khauk-swe, Thai black rice pudding, Malay nasi ulam, Nepalese momos, Indian tandoori tofu, Italian polenta pie, and quinoa pilaf from the kitchen of the Incas.
“Having lived in Malaysia since I got married, naturally most local fruits and vegetables are included in the cookbooks’ smoothies, juices, soups, salads, main courses, salsa, jams, chutneys, desserts and sorbets,” she smiles. Mohana researched the diversity in shapes, colours, textures, flavours and intrinsic value of each fruit and vegetable before penning her books.
“I am not pedantic about the ‘nutritional content’. If we enjoy the taste and make a conscious effort to include these at every meal, we should be ok.” After Fruitastic! and Vegemania! were published, whenever Mohana talked about ‘Making Healthy Living Delicious’ mothers generally complained about “their children not eating fruits and vegetables. For generations children have been told to eat their ‘greens’. Today’s children have a mind of their own and don’t listen as easily! I believe awareness of eating healthy should be inculcated at an early age so thought if I wrote a fun book it might help. During cookery workshops with children, I found they happily eat what they have prepared.” For children Mohana recently launched Fruitastic Garden and Vegemania Garden (both again Gourmand award winners). The main character HayLey (inspired by Mohana’s four-year-old grand daughter Aheli) takes the readers on a journey through these Gardens with simple recipes for the young ones to attempt. Mohana used “the name HayLey rather than Aheli, because the former is more universally familiar and acceptable. To make the character ‘authentic’, I asked my illustrator Tan Vay Fern, who has done a fantastic job of making the books so attractive, to spend time observing Aheli’s mannerisms. Even the little ponytail is just the same as Aheli’s. She considers most fruits and vegetables ‘delicious’ and ‘scrumptious’. This comes from her parents being vegetarians and her having imbibed a taste for these from birth,” smiles the doting grandmother.
“As we grow older our diet has changed, making us more conscious of good and bad foods. My husband Satwant is a keen gardener and an anti-ageing advocate. He believes in preventing disease by good eating habits, healthy living and exercising. We have 14 fruit trees in our garden and also grow our vegetables. These automatically become the mainstay of our menu,” she explains.
To take her culinary offerings to the public, Mohana opened Fruitastic Express, a juice-cum-salad bar, in Petaling Jaya, in suburban Kuala Lumpur. “I have noticed curious passers-by looking, but rarely stepping in. Instead, they go next door and buy a deep-fried curry puff or a sausage roll to down with a coke. We need to educate mothers first, so that they stop giving their children junk food,” remarks Mohana. “I am working on a coffee table book with about 50 easy recipes to encourage mothers to go back into the kitchen and cook for, and with, their children. The intent is to bring the family back to the dining table with food becoming the common link binding them together,” she avers. Mohana’s calendar also fills up with invitations to give talks and conduct cookery workshops for adults and children at various vegetarian conferences globally. These have taken her to India, Dubai, Singapore and Indonesia.
“In 2009 I collaborated with PRIDE Foundation which creates awareness of breast cancer, for talks on ‘Making Healthy Living Delicious’ at six leading hospitals in Kuala Lumpur. In Bangalore a conference themed ‘Practising Ahimsa – The Core of Our Values’ came at the appropriate time. Launching the HayLey series there my topic was encouraging kids to eat more greens and practice ahimsa by not killing animals for food. In Dubai I spoke and conducted a children’s workshop at a conference by MEVEG (Middle Eastern Vegetarian Society), a focus group promoting increased consumption of plant-based foods,” the lady recalls. In conclusion Mohana advocates: “You don’t have to change your eating habits overnight. Go with a practice that becomes a part of your lifestyle yet incorporates five intakes of fruits andvegetables daily. My regime involves beginning the day with a multi-fruit smoothie; a fistful of raisins or bowl of fruit mid-morning; good helping of vegetables at lunch; nuts or fruit yogurt with afternoon tea or coffee, and adding another portion of vegetables and fruit to my dinner.” Mohana Gill’s books are published by MPH Group Publishing Sdn Bhd, Malaysia. www.fruitastic.net
