CHENNAI: A big city like Bengaluru offers several temptations to consumers. Over the last five years, I have been making responsible choices especially when it comes to food, very consciously. Buying organic, local food is important to me for two reasons: firstly, my family’s health. We all know the dangers of eating food full of chemicals – pesticides and artificial colours in vegetables, preservatives and adulterants in readymade food and grocery items, and the use of growth hormones and antibiotics in eggs and meat. A new danger – genetically modified food – now threatens to join this growing list. All these have a direct impact on our health: from allergies, gluten sensitivity, endocrine disruption leading to early puberty, infertility, menopause problems, and possibly even cancer.
The second reason is farmers: they are going through an extremely difficult time, and need to be encouraged to come back to traditional methods of farming that protect the fertility of the soil and the diversity of crops. My recent visit to a farm where I attended a 4-day permaculture workshop was an eye opener to the difficulties of growing food.
I realised how important farmers are to the cities, and how dependent they are on the weather. We got a chance to transplant ragi saplings in the field, and had to finish our task in spite of the rain. And if it does not rain well at least once more this monsoon, all our hard work will have been of no use, as the crop will dry up and die. We learned how to mulch and compost, how to observe the landscape to harvest the rain. We got a chance to make Jeevamritha from fresh cowdung and urine, which go waste in the city. Eating fresh wholesome food at the end of a hard day of labour was a great reward.
I have recently subscribed to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) initiative, in which subscribers receive a weekly basket of fresh, chemical-free vegetables directly from the farmers at a fair price, eliminating the middleman.
The vegetables are local and seasonal, and they travel less than 50km, which is very important in reducing the carbon footprint of the food we eat. A few such initiatives have started in the city, with a view to helping farmers get a fair price for their produce, while supplying consumers with fresh vegetables.
With the growing demand for healthy food, I hope farmers will get more recognition, and I am happy to be part of this movement.