Spice and Wellness Society to create South Asian Cookbook

UNC’s Spice and Wellness Society was recently awarded the Robert E. Bryan Fellowship in partnership with the Carolina Center for Public Service.

The fellowship awards recipients up to $1,500 to help launch an innovative project that addresses a community-identified need.

The Spice and Wellness Society focuses on improving cardiovascular health and diabetes in South Asians.

Founder and President Rohan Patel said he was inspired to start the Spice and Wellness Society, as both sides of his family have heart problems and diabetes.

“Our community is four times more likely to have these issues and it is due to a bunch of environmental, cultural and dietary factors,” he said. 

This year, the organization is working on creating a South Asian cookbook.

Patel said that many individuals don't know how to cook South Asian dishes, so the organization aims to teach the UNC South Asian community how to make nutrient dense South Asian meals that are healthy, easy and low cost.

“One thing we really want to push for is called culinary literacy,” he said. 

Veda Muppala, the vice president of outreach for the organization, said that after moving to college, she didn't understand what healthy eating looked like and struggled with keeping her South Asian diet while incorporating the nutrients she needed.

“There’s a lot of myths in our community about what is healthy and what is not,” Patel said.

South Asian diets are limited a lot of the time, and therefore people are reluctant to try new things, Nithya Mamalayan, the vice president of member engagement, said. Giving them an option to manipulate the items they already have access to and showcase a healthier way to eat is important, she said.

Patel said that the cookbook will include categories that are accessible for everyone, such as meals made under 10 dollars, meals made under 10 minutes, dorm friendly meals, disability friendly meals and heart healthy meals.

Muppala also said that the organization is planning on partnering with the Carolina Dining Services to create a recipe that will be showcased at Lenoir Dining Hall, as well as partnering with Culinary Medicine and Edible Campus to do a mint chutney cooking demonstration.

The organization also aims to spread awareness about food and wellness in a positive manner.

“Food is a lot more than nutrients. It's a really important part of our lives in terms of our families and our social bonds and our cultural preferences,” Alice Ammerman, professor in the Department of Nutrition in the Gillings School of Public Health and Director for UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, said.

She said that the Campus Community Garden at UNC, which has been around for 15 years, tailors its crops to provide fresh produce to low-wage Burmese workers at UNC. Volunteers grow foods that align with Burmese dietary preferences, such as large okra and small eggplant, for workers who may feel isolated due to economic and cultural barriers.

“It's a way of communicating your culture that is valuable,” she said.

Ammerman also said that although the evidence related to health and nutrition shows that the most beneficial combination of foods is the Mediterranean diet, this does not mean that people have to eat like they do in the Mediterranean. 

“The principles of the Mediterranean diet, which are more healthy oils, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, limited sugar, those can be applied to any culture,” she said. 

Ammerman said that no single culture has a corner on good nutrition, but it is about pulling from different cultural preferences and combining them.

“What we know to be the basis of a good diet can be adapted to almost any culture,” she said.

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