Promoting tribal flavours on plates
More than 30 tribal and local delicacies displayed
Sukinda: Taking yet another stride towards promoting and popularising tribal culture in general and traditional tribal cuisines in particular, Tata Steel Mining in collaboration with Tata Steel Foundation hosted a unique tribal food festival “Prajatiya Khadyotsav” at its Sukinda Chromite Mine here on Wednesday.
The programme aimed at highlighting the authentic tribal and traditional food practices and their nutritional values, while showcasing the array of agro-food diversities of the ethnic and tribal groups.
More than 30 stalls had been set up where the visitors, who had come from across the state, got to interact with the Khadyotsav participants and have a first-hand experience of authentic tribal cuisine. Many visitors were found inquiring about the recipe and also to have a taste of the tribal foodstuff, most of which had been hitherto unknown to them. The tribal practice is to use ingredients only available by natural ways and not the artificial ones produced in factories.
A good number of visitors were also bemused to see the health benefits of the age-old practice of cooking in earthen pots over firewood and serving on leaves of native plants.
The daylong food festival was a huge success in terms of footfall and sale.
Attending the event, Mr. Pankaj Satija, Managing Director of Tata Steel Mining said, “Indigenous agro-forest food varieties have rich nutritional values and its high time we add them in our food menu. It will not only help us with nutritional supplements but also help raising awareness on food diversity of the indigenous communities.”
Thanking all the participants on the successful organization of the event, Mr. Satija said, “Through this unique food festival Prajatiya Khadyotsav, we celebrate the rich agro-forest food diversity of Odisha and the tribal ethnicity. I believe, this initiative will help conserve our indigenous food practices. I thank all the participants and dignitaries for making this event a success.”
The festival aimed to make people understand about the food habits of tribal people, highlighted their sustainable way of growing food and its relationship with their ecology land, plants, animals and forests. The festival was an eye-opener for many visitors, who got to know that there are hundreds of food items thriving across tribes in the state.
In the evening, popular tribal song writer, music composer and singer Tom Murmu from Jharkhand thrilled the crowd with some of his hit tribal songs.
The event was graced by local Panchayati Raj Institution members and other dignitaries, officials and employees of Tata Steel Mining.
