It’s Sunday August 1st 2021 and we in Trinidad and Tobago are observing Emancipation Day- a holiday that commemorates the abolition of slavery…indeed in 1985 Trinidad and Tobago was the first independent country in the world to declare a holiday that celebrates the liberation of slaves from servitude and their freedom from oppression…and there is even more that we are proud of that should never be taken for granted…like our ability to CHUNKAY a pot …now how is chunkaying a pot related to the mission of the gut nerd Caribbean ?
For that we must first look at some definitions…you know when you’re in school, preparing for exams, your teachers always remind you that DEFINITIONS will always come on the exam, and you could get some easy marks by learning definitions…so let’s get some easy marks by understanding PREBIOTICS, PROBIOTICS AND CHUNKAY!
As a physician I often get asked about probiotics by patients…most commonly if they recently used antibiotics or had diarrhoea should they be taking a probiotic
or if they get frequent urinary tract infections or pelvic infections, should they eat yogurt with probiotic cultures…
Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients that stimulate the growth and activity of the microorganisms living in our gut…what we call our gut microbiome…chiefly made up of trillions of bacteria. Therefore soluble fibre that is present in our vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts contain prebiotics.
There are commercially produced dietary items that have been fortified with prebiotics.
Studies show that the best prebiotic effect on our gut occurs when the sources of fibre are DIVERSE… especially since each population of bacteria utilises different types of molecules in the soluble fibre…so variety in the diet is key…
Probiotics was defined by the FAO/WHO in 2001 and revised in 2014 as live microorganisms that when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host …this definition has led to years of controversy as to the guidelines that apply to the label PROBIOTIC and what level of proof of efficacy is mandatory to use the label… what we know is that some products do in fact make it from the stomach to the large intestine but their ability to grow and sustain a new population of healthy bacteria is not long term…and the study outcomes are not reassuring enough to promote those products in routine health care…
But what about the live bacteria and yeasts that naturally live in our body? Can we harness their power and promote their growth without having to take an OTC supplement or pharmaceutical product?
The answer is a resounding YES!!! Our personal gut microbiome is an ever-changing population influenced heavily by our diet, stress levels, co-existent diseases, our genetic profile and use of antibiotics.
So now that we understand that prebiotics can come from the soluble fibre in our food and we can use them to grow our own diverse populations of probiotics within our personal gut ninja warrior army, where does CHUNKAY FIT INTO ALL OF THIS?
Well earlier this year I met a wonderful gastroenterologist from Seattle who is trying her best to get her patients to eat more fibre but she says the consistent response has been that fibre is not delicious and families looking to prepare tasty vegetables, high in fibre, are struggling …she is embarking on a project that includes making sauces that can be added to vegetables to make them more palatable and attractive to the entire family…and allow them to achieve a fibre consumption of about 30 grams a day…well I said to her, in the Caribbean we have some of the most delicious vegetable based recipes and coming from an East Indian background, I grew up eating vegetables 7 days a week – with meat added only on a Sunday! And it occurred to me that a lot of the vegetables I enjoyed then and still do today involved the art of CHUNKAY!
Chunkay is a technique in cooking we learnt from our Indian ancestors – we typically use it when making dhal or chokha – like baigan or tomatoes chokha. We heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a pot OR if you follow the authentic way in a ladle ( known as a kalchul) and you add sliced garlic – about two cloves- when the garlic has turned a golden to dark brown you pour the entire mixture of oil and garlic ( and other spices)into the dish and there is a characteristic sound made …it goes something like this ….chhhhh….and I emphasise the sound , because the origin of the word Chunkay is believed to be from the Hindi word chauk – for the English buffs in the audience, chauk is an onomatopoeia ( named for the sound it is associated with)…
Chunkay is sometimes used to describe the technique of heating oil , adding a curry spice blend with onions and garlic and tempering the spices until it releases its essential oils and there is a fragrant aroma…at this stage you add the vegetables or meat and coat it in the spices as you continue the process…my personal experience has been that chunkaying a pot makes people appear in your kitchen… and the smell of a chunkayed pot by the neighbour can cause your mouth to water and cravings to start…
So with such deliciousness gifted to us in making our vegetables irresistible , let’s continue to be proud of the amazing tools of our culture and strive towards a diverse consumption of fiber in becoming heroes of our own health!
