Puppet's message

Kitty, the puppet, is going around the city sensitising children about the right food habits.

February 08, 2010 04:02 pm | Updated 04:02 pm IST

Ventriloquist and magician Naranat Vinod in Kozhikode.

Ventriloquist and magician Naranat Vinod in Kozhikode.

Life's fast pace is taking a toll on our health, habits and our general well-being. Our food habit is undergoing serious changes as well. The very emergence of the concept ‘fast-food' is evidence to that upsetting change in our lifestyle.

No doubt, it is hard to resist the lure of an ice-cream or a hot chicken Shawarma when you are on an outing. But we should also be clearly aware of the health-risks we take while blissfully succumbing to that temptation.

Fun campaign

It is this task of sensitising the young and school-going about the hazards of unhealthy eating-habits that noted ventriloquist and magician Naranat Vinod has undertaken through his ‘Kitty Show' in Kozhikode.

The show is organised as a publicity campaign programme for the Annam National Food and Agro Biodiversity Festival to be held in Kozhikode from February 11 to 15.

Annam, also known as the ‘Good Food Movement', is a joint initiative of the Centre for Innovation in Science and Social Action (CISSA), Navdanya India and the Slow Food Movement (Italy). The aim of the festival is to raise awareness on how human health suffers due to the new dietary habits and reinforce the link between health, food and agriculture.

The ‘Kitty Show' by ventriloquist Vinod is being organised in more than 40 schools in the city. The half-an-hour interactive show is full of fun and information for the young-ones to correct their eating habits. The show assumes great importance in the light of the fact that Kerala has five times more number of lifestyle diseases than the national average.

Eat right

Mr. Vinod, who says that there was great response from the students for his show observes that the students get friendly with ‘Kitty' the doll, as soon as the show begins. “The message of healthy-eating effectively gets across the students as it comes coated with bright humour,” says Mr. Vinod.

The show, which has ‘Kitty' as its central attraction also clarifies the students' doubts regarding their eating habits. It tells them about the amount of toxic content they swallow when they relish a coloured candy or a bowl of lip-smacking flavoured ice-cream.

It also urges them to go back to their old eating habits, which was healthy, natural, nutritious and appropriately slow to the natural rhythm of human beings.

The relationship between fast-food and the almost-epidemic obesity of the American population is a fairly well known fact. Fast-food is easily available, relatively cheap, most people find it tasty and filling and it can be purchased fast.

One of the major culprits in the fast-food is the cooking oil used in its preparation. This oil is not the regular cooking oil but, hydrogenated oil that undergoes a process designed to increase its shelf life. This process makes it downright dangerous for humans.

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