The venue of the tribal food festival in Kanke, Ranchi, on Monday. (Manik Bose)

Ranchi, May 24: Come June, an ethnic and healthy spread will tease your taste buds.

The state science and technology department and Adarsh Gram Vikas Samiti will host a three-day festival of tribal cuisine at Kanke dam tourist recreation spot from June 11. The fare will include dhushka, chilka roti, marhua roti, pitha and anarsa.

All the dishes will be prepared at live counters by tribal women attired in traditional clothes. There will be three groups, each comprising eight tribal women.

The objective of the food festival is to spread awareness about health and agriculture.

Tribal food has organic properties and is favourite of fitness freaks. Dishes such as maar soup, snail kebabs, crab, chakod saag and moonga saag control diabetes whereas beng saag acts as a liver tonic. Tribal food also has high medicinal values, which can cure diseases like cancer, diarrhoea and diabetes.

The organisers will provide raw material for preparing the food. After the festival is over, these delicacies will be tested by the science and technology department to find their nutritive values.

Dr G.S.P. Gupta, technical officer of the department who is also in charge of the forthcoming food festival, said during the food fair, utensils which are used to keep foodgrain by tribals would also be on display. “We are also trying to display dry food items that are used by tribals throughout the year,” Gupta said.

“Very few people are aware that food consumed by tribals have nutritive values. There are many varieties of leafy vegetables that are high on nutrition quotient, but are confined to remote villages. It needs to be popularised among the masses, especially in the urban areas,” he said.

Gupta added that the main aim of the food festival was to market tribal fare, create awareness among urban people and provide employment opportunities to rural masses.