Food prices this year are going to be a doozey. This heat wave plus Ukraine's missing wheat exports and increasing natural gas costs (used for making fertilizer) are a triple whammy. :(
Sunflower seeds, on the other hand, are going to be a major problem. They are used to extract cooking oil, and Ukraine was a major supplier.
And it's not like Russia is just going to stop exporting wheat. Major importers like China will probably be happy to get a better deal on it than years past thanks to sanctions reducing the demand for Russian wheat.
I'd be much more worried about Europe's dependency on Russian natural gas. There are other major natural gas exporters, but I'd expect the market to be much slower to adapt since the product is mostly transported using expensive pipelines. And other nations will probably be more hesitant to increase production significantly due to environmental concerns.
Edible oil through is a different story.
My grandma in Australia would drink hot tea when the weather was hot, because that cooled her down. I would go swim in the ocean. When I was in HK, I'd turn up the Aircon.
Are there uniquely Indian ways of cooling off in hot weather?
Sometimes we do hang a bunch of palm mats on the windows and spray it with water, for evaporat-ive cooling.
Other than this, we also have lots of juices during the summer, and have diluted buttermilk to drink!
Most of us wear clothes that are loose around the groin and areas where sweat production/accumulation occurs the most.
Most Indians have darker skin, which helps in hot climates. Light-skinned people (caucasians, for example) suffer terribly in the heat and their skin is more prone to sunburns (although dark skin can also burn in the Sun with enough exposure).
- Drinking water from clay pots. The clay pots cool water down better than refrigerators sometimes.
- "Coolers", which are basically high-powered fans that are surrounded by mats woven from the Vetiver plant, through which water continuously circulates. These do a wonderful job of keeping the room cool and also give off a pleasing smell.
- Lemon Soda. This is sold in various formats by street cart vendors. Basically, lemonade or limeade with club soda as the base. My favorite is the 'goli soda', which is vanishing quickly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLXYNjgOwQE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22RXO6x8z1Q
- Watermelons. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan/Ramzan falls in the summer, and watermelons are a favorite for breaking the fast. Everybody enjoys watermelons in this season, and it is a great coolant. There is a notion of 'heating' and 'cooling' foods and drink, and people try to consume the cooling foods in this season. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxYYn4SBd9Q
- Popsicle-like things, known by various names, but basically ice dipped in juices are very popular with children, who buy them from vendors who sell from their carts on the street. They can be found by the roadside all over the country at all times of the day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klnjihAtxGU
- Sugarcane juice: This is a huge favorite in the hot Deccan Plateau in peninsular India. The cane is pressed between rollers that squeeze juice out of the cane, which is mixed with a tiny bit of lemon juice and cooled with ice. Great antidote to the heat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLP4G-PyhU8
- Clothing: Men wear white clothes, in particular those that work outside all day in the Sun. Even if it is soiled, white clothing keeps you cooler outside. Clothing is also loose-fitting and lets air through (rural men literally drape white cloth around their waists, called dhotis, and hike them up to knee height when the weather is hot).
A tangential nitpick. Since the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, the month of Ramadan/Ramzan maps to different months in the Gregorian calendar depending on the year. [1] It has been and will be in the winter months during some of the years.
For what it's worth, I haven't seen vetiver cooler mats in well over a decade. All I see are mats stuffed with wood shavings.
Drink a lot of water to stay hydrated
Eat more carbs and less fat and protein
Drink a lot of buttermilk
Why?
Hotter = less calories required to regulate body temperature so lighter foods. Plus eating heavy foods raises your body temperature because it spends more calories digesting the food itself.
As an example from the foods I grew up on (Ukrainian food), borshch in the summer is generally vegetarian and often consumed cold versus meat-laden in the winter...
Slices of onions, cucumbers, etc. also help.