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VS’ thumbs up for traditional food

Cultivating ideas: A stall at the ‘Annam’ national food and agro biodiversity festival in the city. (Right) Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan inaugurating the festival on Saturday.

THIUVANANTHAPURAM: Business conglomerates are today foisting on people costly and unsuitable food habits and are sabotaging traditional and indigenous eating habits in order to reap huge profits, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has said.

He was inaugurating the ‘Annam’ food and biodiversity festival here on Saturday. Such business interests have succeeded in making people dump boiled water and run after bottled water. A large section of the population was hankering after health-ruining colas instead of opting for tender coconut water, he said.

People do not consume indigenous fruits such as jackfruit and mango much. They should realise that there is nothing shameful about following a traditional diet. These days chemicals are injected into vegetables and fruits so that they will not get spoiled. Diseases result, he added. The omnipresent global capital is misusing science too. Changes are being brought about in the very nature of plants so that production is maximised. Science has produce disease-resistant crops and terminator seeds, crops with new tastes and smells. Such products that do not have the backing of nature would destroy the environment, he said.

The United Nations has warned of food wars due to famines. Only by increasing the use of natural crops and stopping destruction of farmland can such catastrophes be countered.

The five-day festival will focus on significance of local food, the environment, social and health implications of corporate-driven food culture and the role of agro-bio diversity in maintaining food security.

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