Every morning, the Kolha and Santhal tribes of Mayurbhanj in Orissa pluck chakedopaah (pennywort) and prepare a chutney. They have it with their breakfast of watered rice. The tribals believe that a few leaves a day enhance memory and check body tremors among the old.
In another part of the country, the members of the Lingayat community of Karnataka take the leaves of the narale (grape family) and make a chutney. The elders in the community believe that the chutney consumed once a year prevents cough and stomach infections and strengthens muscles and bones.
Food and nutrition consultant Sangeeta Khanna saw her mother-in-law boil parijaat leaves (night-flowering jasmine) to make kadha (a herbal mixture). She was told it eases joint pains.
These are examples from First Food: Culture of Taste, a cookery book brought out by the Centre of Science and Environment (CSE).
The idea originated after reporters of Down To Earth magazine, (a sister organisation of CSE), on various field trips informed the editors about the different kinds of food they ate. “That’s how we started working on the project more than a decade ago,” says editor of the book Vibha Varshney. Culture of Taste is the second book in the First Food series. The earlier, A Taste of India’s Biodiversity, was published in 2013.
“We also wanted to revive India’s traditional culture of eating home-cooked food with seasonal ingredients,” says CSE director Sunita Narain. “It’s getting lost as we are losing the holders of that knowledge—our mothers and grandmothers. And our food today is getting multinationalised, industralised and chemicalised.”
The book has been divided into different sections: leaves, flowers, fruits, vegetables and seeds. “This is the pattern followed by rural communities. They consume all parts of the plant as and when available. This method ensures the availability of food throughout the year,” says Vibha.
For example, in Dindori district of Madhya Pradesh, locals eat the tender pink leaves of peepal tree when they appear towards the end of March. Around spring, they chew the leaves as it strengthens the teeth. Later, the bark and the fruits are also consumed. “This is a method that urbanites can also follow,” Vibha says, adding that the book is for those who want to eat healthy. “The option of eating healthy was always available, but we overlook it. It is far more healthier and nutritious than the processed food that we eat now.”