THE JOYS OF COLESLAW

Eat a coleslaw daily to lose all that belly fat…well!

IF by the end of this column I have half way convinced you to eat a coleslaw every day I will feel very gratified! It’s one of my New Year 2026 foodie resolutions, to get all my readers who love me to eat a coleslaw daily! This is to say I don’t know about you but ever since a chewed through a miserably made coleslaw stuffed in a Goan poie over the new year I’ve been pining to eat a real coleslaw daily. I just loveeee coleslaw and don’t say what’s that! What would we Indians know about coleslaw!
Well, why not, the British ruled us long enough except that coleslaw is not of British origins. If you’re familiar with the Continental cuisines you’ll recognize coleslaw well enough and most likely like me acquired a shine to it. I did a long time ago in my salad years and since then lost touch with it, and am now determined to bring it back to my life.
Coleslaw. First “cole” and then “slaw” – sorry, not American either, but coleslaw comes to us from the Dutch “koolsla” and dates back to the 18th century recipe and of course the most important ingredient in the traditional coleslaw must be the cabbage, the greener, the better….coleslaw must be utterly nutrilicious (a word I’m coining here okay).
Then for more nutriliciousness add carrot, green coriander/parsley/celery; then use kosher salt or our good old Goan sea salt is just fine, lime or lemon juice, honey (to replace white sugar), black pepper, a dollop of real mayo (short for mayonnaise) and some say a little mustard sauce brings out the certain je nais sais quo magic….voila, you got your coleslaw to go with Western-style grills usually, but I don’t know why coleslaw is not served with fish fries in Goa anymore, this or people don’t know how to make coleslaw anymore or are just stingy and want to cut value for money as much as they can. Even the McDonald burgar buns don’t come with a generous helping of coleslaw…remember how former First Lady of USA Michelle Obama did her best to convince the industrial foodie chain millionaires, billionaires, trillionaires – MBTs — to put more green life in their cheap burger buns which the children of the poor eat?)
Anyways to go on here did I tell you I’m pining for a real good honest …er…coleslaw? I suppose one may call it a t glorified “kachumbar” if you like from the tables of Western salad counters, but in desi India too we always used to have this fresh, live, enzyme-enriched side dish served with most meals and especially the main meal of the day. Kachumbar, or better still the curd based kachumbar called raita.
However, increasingly nowadays I see our desi salad green helpings being replaced by fried crunchies of farsan like cornflake chivdo or chakli or ghatia…no kachumbar or raita at all but there will definitely be a fried appetizer, god alone knows fried in what kind of evil oil.

SO, one of my new year 2026 resolutions is to revive the glorious desi kachumbar or raita or better still the Dutch coleslaw in my life this year! Don’t laugh. Sometimes laziness would ensure that at least there would be sliced onion, cucumber, tomato on the table for lunch to begin with…but how too easily these days we find just a farsan crunchy. None of that from now onwards so help me whatever powers-that-be. And as a matter of fact this usually happens with seniors you will see – if they’re depending on dentures for chewing, they usually prefer easy crunchies like potato wafers to say coleslaw salads or raita which may be too chewy for them even if they need nutrilicious food more. Yes, I would say our range of kachumbar and curd raita are avatar of the Western-styled coleslaws of which too there are many versions ranging from the gross to the sublime if you can find them.
Honey, what’s life without a coleslaw to live for? Quick, learn how to make a tangy, crunchy, creamy coleslaw to go with whatever else you feel like eating. In the West there will always be a coleslaw good or indifferent if you’re eating out in a pub or cafeteria or confectionary outlet. But the cabbage may be not julienned fine enough and the whole of it may be stodgy and yukky…of course there’re recipes galore on social media sites teaching a variety of coleslaws from the primary to the exotic, I remember reading one recipe for coleslaw featuring more avocado than cabbage…what is more nutrilicious, avocado or cabbage? One of these days let me tell you!
There are many coleslaw recipes Dutch, American, French, German and instead of mayo some may just use a vinaigrette dressing. The German sauerkraut is a fermented coleslaw I may say and it’s so yummylicious…what about the Korean kim chi? That too, versions of coleslaw around the world…something organic, fresh, alive with enzymes and flavors, superlicious, nutrilicious!
You know the purists out in the countries of the West can take their coleslaw seriously and there’s much detailing about how the cabbage should be cut fine with a mandolin knife or something like that, then salted just so as not to draw too much water out of the cabbage…the crunch must be retained and that’s a culinary art. Coleslaws may not be reduced to a slushy cabbage soup! Well, my dears, I hope you will learn how to make and include a coleslaw in your meal from now onwards after reading this song of mine to coleslaw! Dainty, delicate, tangy, with just a hint of creaminess…dear coleslaw…try doing a coleslaw using drained curd instead of mayo and give me some feedback here. Coleslaw, my dears.
OKAY, no more. But before I stop waxing lyrical over coleslaw, here’s a brief on cabbage nutrition. It’s one of our most loved cole veggies or foods and China produces almost half the harvest of cabbage in the world. The cold veggies also include cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, think of some more…cabbage is considered low calori veggie, nutrient dense, packed with vitamins C and K and folate, fiber, antioxidants, beneficial sulphur compounds called glucosinolates. Of course, the cole veggies are anti-carcinogenic.
Best way to eat cabbage: in coleslaw or in lightly steamed ways. Do quick stir-fries if you wish as in kacha-pakka style…combine with soy or moong sprouts as they do in South East Asian recipes. Somewhere I remember reading that eating coleslaw erases belly fat over time. Check it out and testify here please!