BENGALURU: Bengalureans are growing health conscious by the day and the government is promoting ancient crops such as millets and jowar. To give a push to the conscious diet, city is hosting a three-day event till November 26 on healthy food.
“If nobody is doing it, we should do it right?” says Aaliya Jamal, custom and community engagement manager of Conscious Food. Conscious Food is an organic food brand of Mumbai established in 1990. They are running a pop up store at the event and conducting a cooking workshop ‘reinventing ancient grains’ where Saee Koranne-Khandekar, author of Crumbs! Bread Stories and Recipes for the Indian Kitchen, will demonstrate how to make cosmopolitan dishes using indigenous grains such as split jowar risotto.
Several food experts including Delhi’s Vibha Varshney, botanist and science editor at Down to Earth; Nidhi Nahata, founder of JustBe Cafe and leader of Sharan NGO; and Amit Manjrekar, founder of Green Fundas, will discuss food habits old and new.
It all started when Aaliya visited Bengaluru for the first time in April. “I observed that there are so many organic cafes and restaurants in the city. In Mumbai, we are a niche community but in Bengaluru it’s an evolved market and growing ecosystem where individuals are making healthy food choices,” says Aaliya.
To Aaliya, conscious choice includes promoting a sustainable system where environment and welfare of farmers are taken into consideration. She has also always wondered about the future of food industry in India. “If we head towards American eating style then will healthy food be a luxury?” she says. “Good food should be available to everybody,” she adds. This will be the first time Conscious Food will be hosting an event and initiating a dialogue outside of Mumbai. “This is way better than just one city talking about healthy foods. We have people from different parts of India conversing on the topic,” she concludes.
Event
Pop up store will be launched at OM Made Café Koramangala. Today a workshop on ‘Reinventing Ancient Grains’ will be held at Organic world, JP Nagar at 12 pm. On November 26, there will be a panel discussion on “Food Habits: Old and New” at Om Made Café 3-5pm.