Breeding heritage animals and focusing on fresh, local ingredients, Suvir Saran redefines farm-to-fork eating.

He could charm the coconuts off a tree. You've never seen such a rakish, dimpled high priest as Suvir Saran but high priest he is, and his religion is food. Good food at that. His mantra is simple and he believes in instilling healthy eating patterns early on in life.

Suvir Saran at his farm in upstate New York.

That, according to him, is the biggest trend that people are veering towards and this year we are likely to see more and more people jumping on to the healthy, nutritious food bandwagon as they embrace responsible eating. It was his desire to see people eat clean, simple produce that prompted him and his life partner Charlie Burd, to set up American Masala Farm, the 68-acre bucolic outpost on the border of Vermont where they raise chickens, alpacas, angora rabbits, ducks and geese, all heritage breeds or endangered species. Saran's public speaking fees help support the farm. It is a labour of love where he grows fresh organic vegetables and tends to these animals and he urges people to go organic, natural.

PRODUCING SUSTAINABLE FOOD
American Masala is a 19th century farmhouse, and Saran and Burd are only the second family to own and live on the farm. In 2006, the farmhouse was given the Historical Preservation Award by New York State, and on its rolling green fields there are several spring-fed ponds, a stream rich with trout, 1,500 maple trees, an apple orchard and berry patches as well.

The two men also rear heritage breeds of sheep, chicken, geese, ducks and pigs which are nurtured according to the recommendations of the American Livestock Breed Conservancy (ALBC). The farm provides an abundance of organically grown vegetables and fruits, naturally raised livestock, eggs, milk, and honey. These find their way into the wonderful food that he cooks for friends and family who come and stay at the farm. Saran and Burd sell the fine, high quality eggs to neighbourhood restaurants.

The 2011 book by Suvir Saran, co-authored by food writer Raquel Pelzel and Saran's life partner Charlie Burd, focuses on the trend of farm-to-fork cooking and also has over 60 recipes organised by season. It gives readers an insight into country living.

Today's genetically engineered birds might lay more eggs but the eggs of these heritage birds are incomparable in taste. As noted pastry chef Michael London who is a regular customer says, "I've a cosmic hunch that the eggs from American Masala don't really come from chickens. I think their yolks drip from the sun and their creamy, buttery texture flows from the cow that jumped over the moon. I eat a dozen a week."

EMBRACING COUNTRY LIVING
For Saran, the farm is not about business but more about a way of life to be shared with community and friends. It is putting into practice what he teaches about sustainable living. He says, "the rabbits and alpacas give us fibre to knit and crochet with, and are sold to connoisseurs and gifted to family. The pigs give us meat for our own use and for neighbours. Our llama is a guard animal. He roams free but has never left our farm."

While everyone should strive to buy local and support old-fashioned farming, it's not a money-spinner for Saran who says, "The reality is that farming with respect for animals and with humane practices is impossible to do without deep pockets and a deeper commitment to land and animals." Living and farming the old-fashioned way is neither easy nor affordable. In the US the government supports big agro-businesses which result in large scale practices that do not produce good results.

"And yet the health and lifestyle benefits of farm to table are incomparable. Says Saran, "The farm is my place to come back to from travels, to relax, be connected with nature, and to share with family and friends. As I cook almost all day, when at home, the ducks, geese and our resident, yet wild, blue herons perform for me it seems, at the pond, picking fish, doing their mating dance or simply soaking in nature's beauty."

A diet rich in vegetables is the key to good health.

FROM NEW DELHI TO NEW YORK
Since Saran walks the talk, people tend to listen avidly to his discourses, be it physicians, nutritionists, CEOs, chefs or home cooks. Saran is Chairman of Asian Culinary Studies at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), a speaker and chef at Harvard School of Public Health. This South Delhi boy left on his American journey in his 20s. He enrolled briefly at the JJ School of Arts in Mumbai before leaving for the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1993. While studying there, he did several part-time jobs, but soon realised that his true talent lay in the impromptu meals he was cooking for friends. The high point was when his small catering business was featured on the cover of New York Magazine as one of the hottest new companies in 1997. He launched himself as a chef along with Hemant Mathur (they became co-chefs at Amma and then at Michelin-star restaurant Devi, in New York).

Today, Saran is a caterer, chef, cookbook author, lecturer at New York University, celebrity chef on food shows. He is also the creator of his own home-grown food philosophy that he seeks to spread in a fastchanging global world in which the forces of good food battle the forces of bad food. In fact, these are the beliefs behind his book Masala Farm, which was nominated for the James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook in 2011. He is also launching a farm-to-fork restaurant called American Masala in San Francisco this summer.

Indeed his present championing of a natural, healthy lifestyle based on vegetables can be traced back to those early years. To sit with the gregarious Saran is to get lost in the by-lanes of Delhi, listening to over-the-top tales of family, festivals and food, always food. He began playing the tanpura when he was seven, and even performed as a child on All India Radio. He compares the intricacies of music to those of food. "For me, like music, food is mood, time, race, space and religion." He doesn't hesitate to claim Raja Birbal as an ancestor of his bureaucrat-filled family where his Stephanian father was an IRS officer and his mother, graduated from the prestigious Miranda House in the Capital.

Saran and Burd at their fantastic farm in upstate New York.

She volunteered for the Delhi Blind School, taping books for children in the silence of the night, after her family was asleep. Food was the 800-pound gorilla in the room, always on their minds. In spite of being part of modern India, culture and tradition were hugely important in their household.

Saran, who is gay, says he realised he was different when he was very young. While other boys were playing cricket, he would cycle home excited about trying new things in the kitchen. He says, "food was the most important thing to me; I had no other connection to people. I was hiding something and I did not have the vocabulary to express what was bothering me and food gave me the ability to be me without being judged."

CHANGING HOW INDIANS COOK, EAT
Having lived on two continents, immersed in the foods of both, Saran is a diehard evangelist for spices which he feels can transform foods, and has strong feelings about Indian food and the changes it needs. "Indian food is not as healthy as we pretend it is. Ghee and butter are not good for you but Indians still have a hang-up about this. We have to go back to the drawing board and cook like our grandmothers," he says.

Saran adds, "Indian chefs have concentrated only on celebration foods and no one can eat those all the time. Food is about flavour but in India it's about 30 different ingredients and fancy food. Look at the obesity levels in India." In his lectures at Harvard School of Public Health, Saran eschews cream and butter and propagates new ways of eating, replacing meat with vegetables and home-cooked meals lightly and with beneficial spices. His favourite is the Indian spice box with all the healthy, nourishing spices like turmeric, coriander and cumin seeds that can enhance any meal. He's a fan of all vegetable oils, especially olive oil. He also uses ancient grains like farro in innovative ways on the modern table.

His advice to restaurateurs is simple. "Have a small menu and focus on using quality ingredients in every dish. Quality matters more than noise," he says. The idea is to be mindful, responsible, about what goes into your mouth, and one would do well to make that a way of life, starting now.

Saran's tips for eating organically in 2016
There are certain indulgences in life that are beyond a fad, that become lasting trends and not a mere momentary distraction. That's what will happen to eating in 2016.

Lavina Melwani is a New York based journalist who writes for several international publications and blogs at www.lassiwithlavina.com.