Growing up in post-colonial India, in an era that prefaced running water, 24/7 electricity, and electronic gadgets and appliances, I quickly learned about food economics. My emerging middle-class family, consisting of my parents, brother and me, had enough to satiate our hunger, sans any frills or excesses. Shopping for seasonal fruits, vegetables and groceries was a daily ritual, picked up on foot from the local markets, in home-sewn cotton bags. My mother – a local school teacher -- miracul...