While in Catskill, NY this September, I sat down with Suresh Pillai from Atina Foods to learn more about his guiding principles and his path to becoming a gifted alchemist in the kitchen.
Origins
Suresh grew up in Kerala, South India—a coastal state that lies between the Indian ocean and Western rainforest. He described it as a small strip of land with unique geological placement. Around the first week of June, the southwest monsoon hits Kerala, marking the beginning of a new calendar and months of rain. Suresh emphasized the importance of the water’s cyclical nature each year; initially evaporating from the ocean, the wind sweeps it up into clouds that travel to the mountains where it rains, and is carried by rivers back into the ocean, its original origin. Within this cycle, Suresh explained, “The amount of water remains constant and this continuous recycling process is where the life lies.” The months of the monsoon are intense, but they are essential for agricultural cultivation in the dry season. Suresh said, “This is the place where you find the finest cinnamon, the finest black pepper—turmeric was born there, ginger was born there. It’s not because of the people, it’s because of the land, the geography.”
The Corn Mother Goddess symbol printed on Atina Foods aprons
When asked where he learned to cook, without hesitation Suresh responded: “my mother.” He explained, “Women were the boss in my family, our origin is all from the womb… My siblings and I inherited everything from our mother and as children were trained to cook in a very disciplined way. Food is a sacred activity, you wake up, do prayers, come to the kitchen, prepare meals and before you eat you pray again.”
Today, Suresh prays to the Native American Corn Mother Goddess, Atina, who is the guiding inspiration for Atina Foods. In prayers, Suresh interprets the symbolic meaning of Atina as what leads us from darkness to light: “the darkness created by the arrogance and selfishness of human beings to the lightness of the connected world of all beings. Whatever I cook is in her name—she is the presiding deity.” In the traditional story, Atina leads people from underneath the earth and up onto open land, providing encouragement and knowledge to help life prosper.
Suresh in his home
Career
After receiving a degree in Chemistry, Suresh started his career selling conventional medicine for large companies in Bombay. When he met Carrie Dashow, his wife and business partner, he moved to America, originally to Brooklyn, and eventually upstate to Catskill. Experiencing difficulties finding a job, Suresh turned to his innate skill of preparing food. A friend who was an acupuncturist had a client diagnosed with cancer, undergoing various exhausting treatments and drugs. Suresh said, “He connected us so I could cook some food for her. She was falling apart, very sick. I talked to her, developed an understanding of her body’s constitution and started cooking with that knowledge. My aim was to increase her natural immunity through spice combinations.” She was able to cut down some of her drug intake and enjoy the final months of her life. His first priority was to make the food palatable and delicious, given that it turns into blood, into flesh—the foundation of our existence—he wanted her to enjoy it. Many of Suresh and Carrie’s friends encouraged them to continue pursuing a food business, so they started thinking more about what there was a real need for in the market. Suresh made it clear how critical his partnership with Carrie was embarking on this journey—to be constantly supported by someone who shared his beliefs and also contributed unique, creative talents, in food, culture and graphic design.
Plants drying in the sun room
Bifurcation
One of the primary observations Suresh made about American culture was the bifurcation of food and medicine. He elaborated, “If you want a carbohydrate, starch or protein, you go to a grocery shop. If you want a vitamin or essential amino acid, you go to a pharmacy.” He described this separation of food and medicine as a phenomenon instigated by capitalist systems that destroy indeginous cultures and their medicinal methodologies. As an example, Suresh sited that medical professionals might recommend consuming 10 milligrams of vitamin C, but almost never recommend prescribing a piece of fruit or sunlight; perplexed by this idea he said, “This is where we are. The truth gets subverted.”
Suresh noted the integral role of apothecaries and family medical practitioners pre-1950s, who knew each patient from birth. Observations on the body were intrinsically intertwined with patterns of food consumption. Prescriptions and healing solutions utilized the combined power of medicine and food. After World War II, specialization in specific medical professions became more standard, and holistic approaches to the body as a confluence of interacting, united systems were less mainstream. Just as food and medicine became bifurcated entities, the body became viewed as a bifurcated structure.
Ayurveda
In contrast to the separated nature of Western food and medicine, their intersection is integral in Ayurveda. Suresh introduced Ayurveda as the “science of life,” Ayur (life), Veda (science), a traditional practice of medicine originating from ancient Vedic texts. He described it fundamentally as, “recorded knowledge of what is good for life and what is bad for life.” Importantly, he distinguished Ayurveda as an ever-changing science, one that rejects stagnation and embraces new knowledge. He continued, “According to Ayurveda, the physical body is an extension of earth—what we eat is what we are. If I exist, then the spirit exists, and I can only exist when I eat, drink and breath. So Ayurveda is a material science. It treats the whole universe as a divine creation that has a divine balance.” Returning to the cycle of water that sustains life in Kerala, Suresh reiterated that as tiny creatures on earth, there are an abundance of naturally programmed systems that are outside of our control, and that we need to accept.
Books in the sun room
In Ayurveda there is a natural balance of elements—earth, fire, air, water and sound or space—that exist both externally in the world and internally within the body. In the body, these elements and their roles within metabolic systems are classified as different doshas: vata, pitta and kapha. Suresh said, “Any imbalance creates disorder—what modern science calls disease.” There are also five layers of the body in Ayurveda: “The outermost is the physical body, the second layer is breath, or prana, the third layer is the mind, the fourth is wisdom, and the innermost is happiness, to be one.” Within this connected unit of life, it is believed that every living thing—plant, animal, human—has its own state of happiness. With this mindset, happiness is an inherent asset of all living things, however imbalances, often of our own creation, can cause unhappiness. Suresh explained, “Ayurveda tells us to look at the root of our imbalances, it’s a logical science. It asks questions: where is it coming from? What are the situations that lead to something? The cure is deeper than the physical symptoms, it lies in the conditions of the mind and the habitat in which the symptoms are occurring.”
Atina Foods
Suresh believes this view of the human body, in which one’s mind and habitat are integral to achieving wholeness, has been destroyed by the bifurcation created by capitalist food industries and pharmaceutical supply chains. He emphasized, “Every habitat has its own food and medicine. Food is medicine and medicine is food.” This is not only a foundational principle of Ayurveda, but a guiding belief in Native American medicinal practices and other indigenous cultures all around the world.
By utilizing food that is abundant in their local environment–the Hudson Valley—Atina Foods helps alleviate imbalances that exist in the greater food system. For example, Suresh spoke about their Garlic Scape Pickle, “Ever since we started growing garlic, we realized, what are we going to do with the scape? Compost? We spent time and developed a product—this is what we are doing in our own little way.” Food waste is a major imbalance that exists within the food industry; by innovating a product that uses traditionally discarded food scraps, Atina Foods is not only challenging traditional notions of what can be edible and delicious, but crafting solutions that address larger global problems—as Suresh said, in their “own little way.”
Mixing the Inji Puli jam ingredients
Similar to how the ingredients they source serve imbalances on earth, the methods of preparing their products serve imbalances that exist within the human body. Suresh spoke about their Inji Puli jam, a traditional combination of ginger, tamarind and spices, that can aid digestion. However, he said promoting or making claims about the medical benefits of a product like Inji Puli can be socially stigmatized and legally restricted; advertising health benefits is reserved for modern medicine, manufactured by pharmaceutical companies. Suresh noted these modern medicines are often extracted from the very same or similar plants used in their products. He remarked, “We can’t speak the truth. Inji Puli is an excellent digestive, if you eat it regularly the colon will clear. There seems to be a process of obliterating all natural things in the world. Yet we are all natural human beings right?”
Green tomatoes ready for fermentation
Fermentation
One of the integral tools Atina Foods uses to make delicious products from often unwanted ingredients is fermentation. Suresh said, “Today food production is about how massively you can produce, refrigerate and distribute products.” The ancient technology of lacto-fermentation defies the idea that food needs to be refrigerated or filled with chemicals to remain edible and preserved over long periods of time. Working in the kitchen with Suresh for several weeks, I learned how simple lacto-fermentation truly is, requiring as little as a jar, salt and something to ferment. It’s hard to name a fruit or vegetable that Atina Foods hasn’t fermented—from fennel, zucchini, lemon, hot peppers to peaches, they’ve tried it all. Different combinations of spices like fenugreek, mustard seed and asafoetida are added to their ferments, imparting unique flavors that differentiate their products from what you might usually find in the pickled section at a grocery store. Their method of fermentation also differentiates their products; as I wrote in an earlier article:
Fermenting squash
“By using salt instead of vinegar to create a pickle, the ingredients are lacto-fermented, meaning bacteria breaks down the sugars in the foods to form lactic acid. These lactobacillus strains of bacteria not only ferment the food but are beneficial to the human gut microbiome when consumed. Pickles that are created using vinegar use the acidity of vinegar as the preservation mechanism rather than lactic acid. Without lactobacillus bacteria involved, vinegar pickles do not have the same gut beneficial properties.”
When it comes to fermenting with Suresh, there is no limit. One day Kyle, who helps in the Atina Foods kitchen, said he had a truck load of squash harvested from his garden, Suresh said, bring it over. A project like this isn’t necessarily for a product Atina Foods already sells, but it can be turned into a seasonal jar. We spent an afternoon peeling, cutting, salting and jarring nearly 300 pounds of squash. It was exhausting, but rewarding to see the jars lined up, extending the lifespan of a freshly harvested squash from 5 months to several years—with an added flavor zing.
Mother Nature
Honoring the land, plants, animals and infinite gifts of mother nature is one of the messages Suresh routinely returns to. For example, while picking food from the garden, he reminded me to never wear headphones; harvesting is a sacred act, in which one should be fully present and connected to the earth. Concerning the plot of land in Catskill where Atina Foods is housed, he established, “Being caretakers of this land has been entrusted to us.” When he first started building the outdoor kitchen, he discovered a family of snakes living behind the stone fireplace. Rather than disrupting their habitat, he let them be. The amount of killing and destruction caused by humans in the natural world disheartens Suresh, and Atina Foods has become a safe haven for life to flourish unencumbered. He mentioned that buying land has become a monetary, legal transaction, but animals and plants don’t care who “owns” the land.
The Atina Foods garden overlooked by the Catskill Mountains
View from the outdoor kitchen
For Suresh, the families of chipmunks, squirrels, birds, raccoons and coyotes that inhabit and visit “his” plot of land have no less right to it than he does. He reassured me that if I ever come in contact with an animal that strikes fear, look at it straight in the eye with ease and confidence, in this way one can communicate peace and walk away unharmed. Thankfully I never had to use this advice!
There are also essential lessons to be received from nature; Suresh explained, “See, that apple tree over there, it has been producing apples for 50 years. That great mother, she’s been producing food without asking anything. No being on this planet is doing anything solely for itself—living for others is a basic truth. Internally, I need to understand what I am doing is not for my own selfish satisfaction but to help someone or something.” Returning to the natural cycles on earth and our inherent interconnectedness he remarked, “Finding balance is essentially kindness, empathy and generosity. That is the key, and that is what is missing here.”
