For Smita Daya, preparing a plant-based, olive oil-infused cuisine using natural herbs and spices has been a way of life. The East Cobb healthy eating advocate opened the Olea Oliva! store at The Avenue East Cobb two years ago to spread her passion for wholesome, easy-to-make dishes to those wanting to alter their own eating habits.
The shop sells more than 60 varieties of gourmet extra-virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars, as well as spices, herbs, teas and other items that make up her “healthy eating and healthy cooking” philosophy. She also teaches classes there once a week.
“The passion for healthy cooking has always been there,” she explains.
In September, she’ll be publishing a cookbook, “An Odyssey of Flavors,” which contains many of her favorite recipes that she believes can be made easily and quickly, even for the busiest home cook.
That’s because she’s been one herself.
Smita and Dilip Daya, her husband and Olea Oliva! co-owner, grew up in Africa as members of families that planted, harvested and cooked their own vegetables. She left her native Zambia for an English boarding school at the age of 12. He lived on a farm in Mozambique.
When they arrived in the United States as younger adults, they brought their food habits with them, and have not wavered in passing them along.
Smita was a paralegal in the corporate world for 25 years, rising well before dawn every morning to prepare that evening’s dinner before going to work. She also made sure her now-grown daughters (both Walton High School graduates) packed homemade, healthy lunches. No cafeteria fare, but hummus dips, yogurts and salads.
The Dayas don’t eat meat, poultry or fish, although they help customers who do by offering paleo seasoning bags (no processed ingredients) specially mixed for each kind of dish.
Smita says that “it’s a lot of discipline, but it was never a question” about whether to maintain a plant-based diet.
The dishes in her cookbook are all vegetarian. The only dairy products are in her homemade paneer cheese and yogurt. Sugar is used only in desserts. Very little salt is included in any recipe.
Most of all, it’s the olive oils, herbs and spices that are at the heart of her philosophy. Former neighbors now run a fresh pressed-olive farm near Florence, Italy, where the Dayas have a co-share interest.
Dilip, whose day job is as a computer engineer with a Hewlett-Packard R and D lab, visits every 18 months or so. He’s an olive oil sommelier certified by the UC-Davis Robert Mondavi Institute and is an industrial chemist.
She makes the spices on site at the store, and makes weekend rounds at local markets, including Martin’s Garden at Coleman Farms in Roswell.
“Eat better, not less,” Smita says. “It’s all about flavor, about an explosion” of tastes that burst from the recipes. They’re designed to be easy to prepare, using only a few ingredients that are readily available:
- Herbaceous Kale Salad
- Slow Cooker Red Lentil and Vegetable Soup
- Broccoli Dal
- Sorghum Pizza
- Baby Stuffed Eggplant
- Penne Pasta with Vegetables
- Kohlrabi Masala Curry
The latter is a recipe she’ll be demonstrating at a class on Aug. 30. She said for some, the most challenging ingredient can be a commitment to cooking this way every day.
“You have to be passionate about being in the kitchen,” she said, “to be passionate about your family’s health.”
Smita, who has a certificate as a plant-based nutritionist from Cornell University, also will be doing a demonstration at the Atlanta Food Expo in September at the Cobb Galleria Centre.
“I want you to go home and be able to cook,” she said. “I love empowering people, to give them skills and tips to do healthy things.”
“An Odyssey of Flavors,” published by Atlanta-based VMH Publishing, can be preordered and will be sold on the Olea Oliva! website after Sept. 4. The store is located at 4475 Roswell Road, Suite 1000. Phone: 770-321-0099.
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