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| ‘The Lapps are trying to go back to their indigenous food habits to reclaim their health and wellbeing’ |
Where food is a gift of nature
Torino, Italy is the home to the Slow Food movement spearheaded by Carlo Petrini. Every alternate year, Slow Food, which originated in Torino, hosts the Indigenous Terra Madre (ITM), a network of indigenous communities, that believes in reclaiming their food diversity. This year, the ITM saw 110 countries participating in the Slow Food Conclave.
I recall talking to an indigenous Lapp lady from Alaska in 2009. She complained that the supermarket food culture introduced by Americans to the Lapps (Eskimos) has resulted in their being obscenely obese. The Lapps are trying to go back to their indigenous food habits to reclaim their health and wellbeing. We in India have just started queuing up at MacDonald’s and KFC for our fast food or junk food trip.
Young people think it’s cool to eat them. Dal, bhaat, sabzi are passé. What we have not begun to consider are the health problems that afflict this generation of junk food aficionados. Is it any wonder why younger people are now victims of heart attacks and diabetes? That said, the Slow Food movement is not the antithesis to fast food. Slow Food has its own philosophy.
The philosophy behind Slow Food is “Good, Clean and Fair,” meaning that food produced by farmers must be “Good” or as natural as possible, hence it must not be genetically modified; it should be “Clean” of pesticides and chemicals and “Fair” to those who produce it. In short, farmers must get the right price for the efforts they put in. For indigenous communities, it means trying to grow food that used to be an essential part of their diets such as millets and quinoa or the hundreds of other varieties of leaves and vegetables that was a part of their nutrition, food they have stopped growing because the “market wanted something else.”
Those who see food only as a means of satisfying hunger will not comprehend what Carlo Petrini means when he talks about food as a gift of nature to humankind. Petrini believes that food creates a shared humanity and that growers of food must be respected. His idea has always been that the farmer who grows the food must get a fair price for his produce.
In India, millet growers from south, central, eastern and Northeast India have united under the banner of Slow Food. Millet was once the staple food of most indigenous/tribal communities who claim that it sees them through seasons of food scarcity. Farmers in Meghalaya and Nagaland are trying to revive millet growing. There were at least four groups from India with stalls at Torino. Indian coffee beans, millet, basmati, several rice species from Meghalaya, turmeric, silks et al which were exhibited attracted thousands of visitors.
At the Oval and Lingotto Fiere in the city of Torino where over a thousand stalls from different parts of the world were put up, there is also the Ark of Taste – a sort of granary for diverse food crops, vegetables, grains, dried fish, beans and what have you. Meghalaya alone was able to register about 100 food varieties.
It is mind-boggling to see the numerous pumpkin varieties ranging from a weight of 250 grams to over 20kg only from Piedmont, Italy. The pumpkins were a riot of colours, from bright red to a deep yellow and their shapes, too, were extraordinary. Visitors could spend hours just going from stall to stall savouring wines from all the Mediterranean countries, beer from all over Europe, cheeses and cured meats, fruits and fruit products from all over the world. The Slow Food and ITM Conclave is a paradise for connoisseurs of good food, wine, beer and meat.
Interestingly, Slow Food is also a convergence point of sorts. The Israeli and Palestinian stalls were set up side by side and people of both countries had no problems at all.
The Pakistanis, particularly those from Swat valley, had their stalls very close to that of the North East Slow Food and Agro-biodiversity Society (NESFAS). People of both countries shared their food and stories.
The tension that people experience when in their own countries seemed to evaporate the moment they meet in a third country. And Torino is where people meet over food!
In Northeast India, NESFAS was started in 2010 under the chairmanship of Phrang Roy, a former civil servant (Maharashtra cadre) who later became assistant president, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Rome. During his term at IFAD, Roy developed a special interest in helping indigenous communities from all over the world to find a voice in international platforms because he believes they are repositories of traditional knowledge systems and healing practices that the rest of the world can benefit from. Roy continues to invest his time and energy in indigenous people because the areas where they live are resource rich but the people are exploited and therefore very poor. Most tribal areas are rich in coal, iron ore, limestone etc. But the benefits don’t accrue to them. Roy also feels that indigenous knowledge systems should be documented before they are completely superimposed by modern scientific knowledge. Indeed a happy blend of the indigenous and modern science is what could provide answers to the world’s problems, especially in the area of gastronomy.
The NESFAS stall at Torino attracted a large number of curious visitors. They tasted whatever food was on display, which included edible worms and spiders from Garo hills of Meghalaya and Nagaland. The 14-member NESFAS team included Daniel Syiem — a young fashion designer from Meghalaya who has made his mark in the international fashion scene.
Syiem specialises in ethnic designs and uses the indigenous weaves to highlight that fashion is not only about looks but also about the producers of looms and yarns and the weavers that are often forgotten. He works with indigenous fibres from the Northeast, particularly the eri silk. Fashion-conscious Italian women and men went gaga over Syiem’s naturally-dyed stoles and stylish waistcoats and offered to buy them on the very first day of the exhibition.
The next Slow Food Convention is scheduled to be held in Meghalaya in October 2015. One reason why NESFAS is in Torino is to learn to organise this mega event. NESFAS has already implemented the idea of school gardens where students are encouraged to grow vegetables and to personally nurture the gardens.
These vegetables then form part of the students’ midday meals. This is what Slow Food is doing across the world.
The high point of the five-day extravaganza was the Indian food stall where Joel Basumatari, a London trained chef and hotelier based in Dimapur, demonstrated his cooking skills at the Indigenous Terra Madre kitchen. He teamed up with ITC chef Manjit Gill and the duo produced mouth-watering alu tikkis and alu parathas, among other delicacies. When word got around that Indian food was on sale there was a literal stampede.
The SF conclave registered 2,50,000 visitors from across the globe but mainly from Italy. It was a bi-annual pilgrimage for people who believe in the philosophy of Slow Food. The movement is growing and with so many devotees one can only conclude that it is a movement in the right direction.
(The writer can be contacted at patricia17@rediffmail.com)
