How Indian cafe that serves natural health drinks and soups inspired dozens of others to open
- After using natural remedies instead of surgery for his mother’s arthritis, Maran G began selling packets of remedies
- Now he runs a successful cafe selling soups, juices and health foods and others are following suit
In the small town of Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, India, the kitchen in a small café Thaai Vali Iyarkai Unavagam (translated as Natural Food, Mother’s Way) is opened up at daily at 4am. It will serve healthy soups, juices and foods as nourishment and healing remedies to up to 400 patrons a day. They include schoolchildren, diabetics, women with hair loss, arthritis sufferers and others.
Ten women work relentlessly to meet the demand, under the guidance of 59-year-old shop owner Maran G. When his mother was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 1998, doctors recommended surgery, an expensive option at 125,000 rupees (US$1,740). A local farmer friend advised Maran that obesity was arthritis’ cause and that with some changes to his mother’s diet, such as giving up caffeine, and having buttermilk and sprouted lentils, she would be back on her feet. They followed his advice and prepared some family recipes for healing, such as soup made from balloon vine, and she lost 10kg in a month. Gradually the pain went away, as did the need for surgery.
“I was so happy to witness my mother’s recovery, that I wanted to spread the word in my community,” Maran says. So he began selling packets of black gram sprouts, mixed with shredded gooseberries and carrots, buying ingredients from local farmers, and selling them in town. On good days he would sell 7,000 packets. He added other healthy ingredients to the mix, including green gram and groundnut sprouts, and some friends set up similar stalls.
“We never thought of each other as competition, because we all had the same goal: to promote wellness using locally grown healthy food,” Maran says.
That venture sprouted into a café that opened in 2012 selling soups, juices, salads and millet-based health foods. Maran attended naturopathy workshops to gain more insights into healing foods, and is pleased with the way his small initiative has shaped up.
“I’m not in it for the money, and I’m not interested in turning it into a franchise,” he says. He’s organised many health camps and training workshops in Sivakasi over the years, with the help of local naturopaths and farmers. Dozens of similar cafes have opened up in India, inspired by Maran’s work, and the government of Tamil Nadu has begun serving his nilavembu kashayam – andrographis tea made from the “king of bitters” – in hospitals, to help patients suffering from dengue and viral fevers.
