Expo revives tribal food basket in Wayanad

KOZHIKODE: The tribal groups in Wayanad are a treasure trove of various indigenous medicines and traditional knowledge. They also have a vibrant and healthy traditional food basket which includes items with high nutritional value. However due to various environmental and external issues, many in this food basket went missing in the last several decades.

To revive the old food habits and to promote it among other people, M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) Community Agro-Biodiversity Centre (CAbC) has started ‘Pathilachanda,’ an exhibition and marketing fair of edible leaves and also flowers to be used during the month of Karkidakam at Kalpetta. The Foundation has also launched one-year long ‘Good Food’ campaign to promote it.

The 10-day long exhibition started on Monday features the traditional ten edible leaves and ten flower varieties. Seed Care, an organisation of traditional farmers in Wayanad, collect and market them. The programme is being conducted as part of MSSRF’s Grass Root Institutions (GRI) project. MSSRF GRI scientist Suma T.R. said the fest is getting a good response from the public as well as tribal groups.

“We launched this programme as part of the ongoing project to restore the traditional food baskets of tribal people. We conducted a survey in 22 tribal hamlets and found the items went missing during the passage of time. We provided them with the seeds of those missing food items to cultivate,” she told DC. “Since these food baskets are healthy, we need to popularise it among others and as a first step, we started ‘Pathilachanda’ in Karkidakam month.”