The Womb as a Cultural Kitchen: Garbh Sanskar, Dietary Taboos, and Nutritional Science

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-583-6_20How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Prenatal nutrition; Food taboos; Cultural food practices; Holistic prenatal traditions; Maternal stress and diet

Abstract

In the Indian tradition, the system of Garbh Sanskar, or garbha-saṃskāra, is an integrated prenatal care system that combines community-based nutritional advice with emotional interventions, including music, prayer, stories, meditation, and ritual observances, to support the fetus during pregnancy. In Ayurvedic tradition, this is viewed as a metabolic process, with the provision of nourishment supporting the mother, lactation, and fetal growth. In this paper, the differences between these traditional approaches and the current science of prenatal nutrition and fetal development are discussed, with an emphasis on the current science of the effects of dietary restrictions, categorized as uṣṇa/śīta, hot, or cold, as in the case of the restriction of papaya, pineapple, milk, and yogurt, with their possible effects on the mother and fetus. In addition, observational studies on the balance of macronutrients, micronutrients, the physiology of stress, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and the epigenetics of fetal development are discussed, to demonstrate the possible effects of the eating habits of the pregnant woman, as well as her anxiety about eating, as in the case of anxiety about the size of the fetus, with the possible consequence of under-nourishment of the fetus. In this regard, the traditional approach is viewed as evidence-based, benign, culturally appropriate, and comfortable, to demonstrate that when the traditional approach is in agreement with the current science, it may be used strategically, while when it is not, myths may need correction with an understanding of the context of the tradition.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Shrishti Kushwah
AU  - Nigam Dave
AU  - Rachna Arora
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/30
TI  - The Womb as a Cultural Kitchen: Garbh Sanskar, Dietary Taboos, and Nutritional Science
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Emerging Food Studies: Intersections of Culture, Science and Sustainability (ICEFS 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 210
EP  - 221
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-583-6_20
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-583-6_20
ID  - Kushwah2026
ER  -