Editor Kerala is a Haven for Art, Food and Health

When we think of India, we think of many things, but rarely does the word clean come to mind.

However, Southern India is clean, green and healthy both inside and out. We traveled to Kerala known as “Gods Own Country” with our guest navigator Yuya Sarashina, an Ashtanga Yoga instructor. Kerala is a paradise, with the Arabian Sea’s long shoreline and serene beaches, towering mountain ranges, and a plethora of waterways known as the ‘backwater’ giving birth to coconut trees and rice fields. But beyond it’s natural beauty, Kerala is becoming Indian’s new haven for art, food and health.

Art: The inaugural Kochi-Muziris Biennale is a new festival of contemporary art taking place in Kochi this year. All exhibitions are free and over 50% of the artists will be Indian. A few big-name Indian artists expected to participate in this year’s event are Subodh Gupta, Gitanjali Rao and Amar Kanwar.

Food: South India’s cuisine is deliciously healthy. Vegetarians make up approximately 40% of the population (over 480 million people!). In the South, folks eat and grow lots of rice as well as dosas (rice flour crepes). Kerala is also a huge spice and tea farming area, and its abundance of coconuts give life to curries, cooking oil and toddy (palm wine).

Health: Ayurveda, ‘the knowledge for long life’ is a 5,000 year old Hindu system of traditional medicine. The origins of Ayurveda are rooted in Kerala, as it was and is home to the legendary eight families of Vaidyas and their successors. Unlike other Indian states the status of Ayurveda in Kerala is not alternative but mainstream and it’s the only state which practices this system of medicine with absolute dedication.

Simply put, southern India is clean and green and we hope that with PAPERSKY in hand you’ll soon be heading south.

PAPERSKY #39: INDIA | clean

Tags: art, food, health