Traditional food items prepared with much care in the households using minor millets enabled people in maintaining good health and lead a peaceful life. The present generation have almost forgotten the traditional food practices and food items.
Food festival
With a view to creating awareness among the masses on the traditional food practices and food items, the Namakkal district unit of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme organised a traditional food festival on Saturday.
District Collector V. Dakshinamoorthy inaugurated the food festival in the presence of P. R. Sundaram, MP and K. P. P. Baskar, MLA.
There was an urgent need to take the traditional food practices to people. Due to advanced scientific technology and changed lifestyle, a good part of the population preferred packed food, which did more harm than good.
Only conventional food contained a variety of enriched vitamins and other nutrients, the Collector said.
At present, invariably people resorted to consume cholesterol-rich food items.
Health disorders
This led to imbalance in nutrition and consequent health disorders including diabetes and cardiac ailment at a very young age, he said.
The Collector said that similar food festival would be organised in all the four blocks in the district, so that the message reached the rural population.
Response
The show, aimed at creating awareness among the masses about the significance of nutritious minor millets and conventional produce, evoked over-whelming response with about 10,000 people from different walks of life visiting various stalls put up by the members of the women self-help groups, college students and other organisations.
Malarvizhi, District ICDS officer, spoke. School students presented cultural programmes.
