Protein (eggs, beans, fish)

“Natto, miso and tofu are the daily soy of the Japanese table. Miso is fermented soy and salt. Bridge: one bowl a day, thick with vegetables, tofu and wakame.”

“Goya (bitter melon, Momordica charantia). Summer vegetable in goya champuru (stir-fry with tofu, egg, a little pork) and juice. Its bitterness is the point: ryoyaku wa kuchi ni nigashi, good medicine tastes bitter, said with a smile.”

“Laurel (bay leaf). In the lentils and the stew, a leaf in the infusion for a heavy stomach. Take the leaf out before serving.”

“Boter, olie, tandpasta, bloem, eiwit. Never: they trap heat and dirt. Oma said it plainly: butter on a burn, never.”

“Onion (Allium cepa). Ceapă, crni luk. The whole plant boiled into Baba's syrup. Red onion skins dye the Easter eggs. Onion on the chest or in a sock, the old way: harmless.”

“The red thread. Sourced among Roma at Ederlezi: the Burgudjii decorate a Holy Saturday candle with red thread, nettles and grass and keep the first red Easter egg. Outside Ederlezi her notes have no Roma source for it. Never round a baby's neck or wrist.”

“A home way: rinse one cup of mung beans, add about eight cups of water, bring to the boil, then simmer 30 to 45 minutes until the beans burst open. Drink the broth warm or cooled and eat the beans too. Some families sweeten it with rock sugar, which is still sugar.”

“Add-ins the tradition uses: Chinese yam in small cubes, lotus seeds, or adzuki beans (soaked first), cooked along with the rice. Job's tears with barley and adzuki for damp weather.”

“Food for old age. Warm, regular, enough. Soups, porridge, soft cooked vegetables, beans and lentils, eggs, dairy if it suits you, bread, rice. Many older people eat too little, and Dutch health advice stresses enough protein for older people. Many older people also feel less thirst and drink too little: a warm drink at fixed times helps. Ask the huisarts about vitamin D, which Dutch guidance advises extra for older people. "At my age the problem is not eating too much. It is forgetting to eat at all, because the tea is more interesting."”

“Rice, dal and vegetables: the everyday food of exile in India. "In Tibet we ate barley. In India we learned lentils. The lentils were very welcome."”

“Ash-e reshteh. Beans (chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils), a great deal of chopped herbs (parsley, coriander, dill, spinach or other greens), reshteh noodles, finished with kashk, fried onions and mint warmed in oil (typical home practice). It is cooked for Nowruz, for Sizdah Bedar, on the eve of Chaharshanbe Suri and in winter, often in pots big enough to share with neighbours and passers-by. Its noodles are said to symbolise life's many paths. Farzana: "When you eat reshteh at Nowruz, you are taking hold of the threads of the new year."”

“Baghali polo. Very cold broad beans and cold rice, balanced with a great deal of hot dill. Often with lamb, another garm partner. One line: anyone with G6PD deficiency (favism) avoids broad beans, the condition takes its name from them.”

“What: Protein that promotes neuronal growth, survival, and plasticity. "Miracle-Gro for the brain" (John Ratey). Higher BDNF = better learning, memory, mood, neuroprotection.”

“Heat shock proteins (HSPs, especially HSP70): activated at core temperature increases of 2-3 degrees F. HSPs repair misfolded proteins, protect against neurodegeneration, and enhance cellular stress resistance.”

“Water next to hydrophilic surfaces (like proteins, cell membranes, fascia) forms an ordered, gel-like layer”

“The charge separation is literally a battery - it drives cellular transport, protein folding, enzymatic reactions”